English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 02/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and
among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on
us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath
of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to
stand?’”
Book of Revelation 06/09-17/:”When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for
the testimony they had given; they cried out with a loud voice, ‘Sovereign Lord,
holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the
inhabitants of the earth?’They were each given a white robe and told to rest a
little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow-servants
and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves
had been killed. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great
earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter
fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up,
and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the
earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and
everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the
one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of
their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on
October 01-02/2021
Lebanon names new government team to resume talks with IMF
Jordan pledges to speed help to Lebanon over energy needs
Jordan PM Says Will Provide Lebanon with Electricity via Syria in Three Months
Miqati Urges Cooperation in Govt. and with Parliament to Achieve Reforms, Save
Lebanon
Fadlallah Files Complaint against Illegal Profiteers, Demands Recovery of Stolen
Public Assets
Protesters Block Dahr al-Baydar Highway after Arrest of Druze Sheikh
Turkish Company Halts Power Supplies to Crisis-Hit Lebanon
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Explains Emergency Response Plan
Il est temps de faire ce qu'il faut. Sauf si c'est trop tard/Jean-Marie Kassab/October
01/2021
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 01-02/2021
Blinken to Hold Talks in Paris after Subs Row
IRGC’s Quds Force members are soldiers outside the borders: Iranian FM
Iran Condemns Bahrain Over Israel Opening Embassy
Iran warns ‘enemies’ against uncalculated moves amid tensions with Azerbaijan
Israel foreign minister opens embassy in Manama, signals determination against
Iran
Iran nuclear talks to resume in acceptable period of time - EU
Egypt blocks alleged Muslim Brotherhood financing scheme
UN extends mission to Libya until January, after Russia-UK standoff
US military enters the fray in Libya to push for elections, exit of foreign
forces
Tunisia’s new PM in race against time to cope with economic crisis
Turkey Wants Compensation for Ouster from U.S.-Led Jet Program
Defiant of US, Erdogan mulls wider defence cooperation with Russia
Concerns over low Iraqi turnout prompt top Shia cleric to urge voting
Dubai's Expo Opens, Bringing First World Fair to the Mideast
Migrants on New Route to Europe Get Trapped Between Borders
World Bank Chief in Landmark Sudan Visit, Focuses on Reforms
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 01-02/2021
Hunter Biden and the Art of Corruption/Peter Schweizer/Gatestone
Institute/October 01/2021
Question: "What does it mean that Jesus saves?"/ GotQuestions.org/October
01/2021
A Pro-Israel Summit in Erbil Breaks New Ground/Dennis Ross/Foreign
Policy/October 01/2021
US Should Sanction The New Head And Businesses Of Iran’s Martyrs Foundation/Saeed
Ghasseminejad/Iran International/October 01/2021
Tehran views the rise of the Taliban with both glee and suspicion/Alireza Nader/Navid
Mohebbi/Washington Examiner/October 01/2021
The walls of the EU eastern flank/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/October 01/2021
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on October 01-02/2021
Lebanon names new government team to resume talks with IMF
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
BEIRUT--Lebanon said Thursday it has formed a new government delegation to
resume talks with the International Monetary Fund aimed at rescuing the country
from an economic meltdown. The government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in
a statement that a four-member committee had been appointed to resume talks with
the IMF. The team, Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami, Finance Minister Youssef
Khalil, Economy Minister Amin Salam and central bank governor Riad Salameh,
would be backed by experts. The eastern Mediterranean
country is facing what the World Bank has described as one of the world’s worst
economic crises since the 1850s. Its currency, the
pound, has lost almost 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black
market since 2019 and people’s savings are trapped in banks. Inflation has
soared and 78 percent of all Lebanese now live under the threshold of poverty,
according to the UN.Power cuts are common in the country and basic goods,
including petrol and medicine have become scarce.
After defaulting on its debt in March 2020 for the first time in its history,
Lebanon started talks with the IMF but they hit a brick wall amid bickering over
who should bear the brunt of the losses. Lebanon hopes
the talks with the IMF will help unlock billions of dollars in financial aid.
But the international community has demanded sweeping reforms and a forensic
audit of the country’s central bank before any financial assistance is
disbursed. Finance expert Mike Azar recently said that reforming the commercial
banking sector and central bank, as well as restructuring the public sector,
would be key for any deal with the IMF. On Thursday,
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun asked Lazard to continue its financial advisory
role in preparation for the resumption of talks with the IMF.
Aoun made his request while receiving a delegation from the company, a
statement on the official presidency Twitter account said.
Lazard is the firm that drafted the original financial recovery plan for
Lebanon before IMF talks stalled last year. Aoun stressed during the meeting
that the plan should be revised to strengthen Lebanon’s position during the
talks as the figures have changed in more than a year. Mikati said on Monday he
would discuss in a meeting with Lazard how the plan could be developed into a
“more realistic” vision for getting the country out of its crisis. In Lazard’s
rescue plan, originally drawn up to help the previous government, losses of some
$90 bilion in the financial system were identified. But the plan was shot down
by objections from the banks, which said it made them foot too much of the bill
for the collapse, in addition to opposition from the central bank and the ruling
political elite that got Lebanon into its crisis. An agreement over the
distribution of the huge losses in the financial system, the main sticking point
during last year’s negotiations, is seen as key prior to the resumption of talks
with the IMF. Lebanon’s economy minister said on Wednesday the country’s banking
sector, central bank and other players in its financial system were working in
“harmony” to agree on the size and distribution of losses sustained during the
economic crisis.
Jordan pledges to speed help to Lebanon over energy needs
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
Jordan says it has discussed ways to speed Egyptian natural gas shipments via
its territory and Syria to Lebanon, which is dealing with a gruelling
energy-crisis. Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh arrived in Beirut late Thursday,
the first foreign official to visit Lebanon’s new prime minister who took office
earlier this month. Lebanon is witnessing an economic crisis described as one of
the world’s worst since the 1850s. Shortages of medicine, fuel and basic
supplies have often brought the country to standstill, while political
disagreements long foiled efforts to form a government to negotiate a rescue
package with international financial institutions.Khasawneh said Jordan is
committed to support Lebanon’s stability. “We will not
hold back our capabilities, we’ll respond with all we can for our brothers in
Lebanon,” Khasawneh said in a press conference with Lebanon’s Prime Minister
Najib Mikati. “We discussed ways to expedite Lebanon receiving Egyptian gas to
help some of the energy challenges and electricity sector.”He said there are
efforts to provide Lebanon with some electricity from Jordan. He offered no
details and said detailed discussions will follow.
Jordanian Energy Minister Hala al-Zawati said earlier this month that the
infrastructure to resume gas flow to Lebanon needed checks after a ten-year
hiatus. Maintenance was expected to be finalised by early October. Lebanese
officials had said the World Bank would help Lebanon finance the deal. Few
details have emerged about the agreement. The pipeline going through Jordan and
Syria carries Egyptian natural gas, a deal that was halted ten years ago because
of shortages and technical issues, as well as the war in Syria.
The Arab cooperation to deliver gas to Lebanon through Syria represents a
significant thawing of relations between the war-ravaged country and its
neighbours, most of whom had either cut diplomatic ties or limited relations to
security collaboration during the ten-year civil war. Washington, which imposes
various sanctions on Syrian officials and entities, had endorsed reviving the
deal, saying it will help Lebanon with its energy crisis. Lebanon’s electricity
company offers only a few hours of power a day and residents have relied heavily
on costly and polluting private generators. Lebanon has also reached a deal with
Iraq to secure fuel to help in generating several hours of power a day.
Jordan PM Says Will Provide Lebanon with Electricity via
Syria in Three Months
Naharnet/October 01/2021
Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh has announced that his country is having
“intensive talks with both Egypt and Syria” in order to arrange the delivery of
Egyptian gas to Lebanon. Al-Khasawneh said that the “results are more than
positive.” He pointed out that “work is being done to repair electricity
networks in some areas in Syria” in order to provide Lebanon with electricity
from Jordan through Syria. “The process might not take more than three months,”
al-Khasawneh added. Al- Khasawneh had arrived in Beirut late Thursday on an
official visit to meet with Lebanon's leaders.
Miqati Urges Cooperation in Govt. and with Parliament to
Achieve Reforms, Save Lebanon
Naharnet/October 01/2021
Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Friday that “we have started doing what needs
to be done to resolve things,” and called for full cooperation in Cabinet and
with parliament. Miqati said in a statement, after meeting with key figures in
Tripoli, that “people are expecting from the government to save them from their
suffering.”He stressed that the government needs “support” to implement its
ministerial statement, and achieve its main political, economic, and social
tasks.
“We are counting on full cooperation in Cabinet and with parliament to approve
the necessary projects and to make the required reforms,” Miqati stated. He
added that the government is keen on “Lebanon's higher interest that can’t be
achieved without attaining stability, unity and civil peace,” and strengthening
Lebanon’s relations with its brothers and friends in the Arab countries and the
world. He addressed the citizens of Tripoli with affectionate words, saying that
“Tripoli is the start and the end,” and promising that Tripoli, like all the
other regions, will receive “the care of the state.”
Fadlallah Files Complaint against Illegal Profiteers,
Demands Recovery of Stolen Public Assets
Naharnet/October 01/2021
Member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP Hassan Fadlallah, filed Friday
a complaint to the judiciary asking it to hold accountable those involved in
monopolization, price manipulation and smuggling. Fadlallah had given a speech
in Parliament in which he demanded a financial audit of the accounts of
companies importing fuel, medicines, and vital goods. He also demanded an audit
of the accounts of distribution companies and big traders. He re-included his
demands in the complaint, asking for an audit that reveals “the size of illegal
profits made by monopolization, price manipulation and smuggling.”“The culprit
companies must be held accountable and the stolen public assets must be
recovered,” Fadlallah said. He claimed that these companies have benefitted from
public assets received from the central bank as subsidies by selling goods at
higher prices. “The subsidies should have been for the citizens’ benefit but a
part of this public money has been stolen by companies and traders illegally,”
Fadlallah said in his complaint.
Protesters Block Dahr al-Baydar Highway after Arrest of
Druze Sheikh
Naharnet/October 01/2021
A number of young men blocked the international road at Falougha junction Friday
in protest against the arrest of Sheikh Ayman Hani of the Druze sect at the
Masnaa border crossing. Hani had been arrested on his way to Syria for firearms
use charges and was handed over to the Military Police in the Lebanese Army in
Ablah. The road blocking in both directions has caused a suffocating traffic
jam. Head of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblat meanwhile said in a
tweet that the roads to Mount Lebanon have remained open during the most tensed
protests. "What is happening today contradicts all logic, reason and principles
by a group that distorts the image of the people of Mount Lebanon," he added.
Turkish Company Halts Power Supplies to Crisis-Hit Lebanon
Associated Press/October 01/2021
A Turkish company supplying electricity to Lebanon from two power barges off the
coast of Beirut said Friday it has halted supplies after its contract with the
Lebanese state electricity company expired. The move
by the Turkish company, Karpowership, which has provided electricity for the
past eight years, was expected. It had said earlier that Lebanon's state power
company owes Karpowership overdue payments in excess of $100 million. Lebanon is
grappling with an economic meltdown that includes fuel and power shortages;
blackouts last up to 22 hours a day. The country's new
government, voted in last week, has said that improving electricity production
is one of its top priorities. Successive governments have failed to agree on a
permanent solution for the chronic shortages, largely because of profiteering
and endemic corruption. "During our eight years
operating in Lebanon, despite all the challenges, we have done all we can to
support the Lebanese people," Karpowership said in its statement. Since 2013,
the company has been providing around 370 megawatts — about a quarter of
Lebanon's supply — from giant generators on its two barges, docked south and
north of the capital, Beirut.
Karpowership said its contract expired at midnight Thursday. In May, the company
briefly shut down its operations over delayed payments and the threat of legal
action against its vessels. Blackouts have been a fixture of life in this
Mediterranean country since the 1975-1990 civil war, with Lebanon relying mostly
on imported diesel for powerful generators owned by a cartel that light up
people's houses in the absence of government-provided electricity.
Lebanon hopes to improve production in the coming weeks with power
supplies from Jordan and Egyptian natural gas supplies to one of its main power
stations.
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Explains Emergency Response
Plan
Naharnet/October 01/2021
Najat Rochdi, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, on Friday
held a press conference about the Emergency Response Plan in Lebanon. In the
press conference, Rochdi informed the media how the humanitarian community
working under her leadership, is collectively responding to the most pressing
humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable populations affected by the
multi-dimensional crisis in Lebanon.Below is the full text of the speech
delivered by Rochdi at the conference:
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press,
Good morning and welcome in the UN House,
As the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, and in the presence of other
members of the humanitarian community, we will be happy to take your questions
right after my remarks. In my recent field visits, I
met children, young and old Lebanese men and women. Their stories were
heartbreaking, sometimes outrageous and shocking. I spoke with 15-year-old Chadi
whose dream is simply to have a mobile phone and some decent clothes. “I should
be in school, studying, taking money from my parents and not the other way
around”, he told me. I met breadwinner mothers who were “ashamed” of waiting in
lines to pick-up their food parcel; Never in their life have they depended on
others to feed their children, they told me with tears triggered by feelings of
despair. Yet, their main concern is to put food on the table and get a job that
pays the rent. They worry about the safety of their children, about their
education and their blurry future.
These are just examples of thousands of Lebanese who have fallen into multiple
facets of poverty, battling to meet their very basic needs. The stories are
countless and recounting them would take me days. In a nutshell, the hardships
and tragedies of ordinary people have become insurmountable!
You all live here and know all too well the issues that Lebanon has been
grappling with over the past two years: an economic and financial meltdown, the
disastrous impact of the Beirut port explosions and the COVID-19 outbreak.
Months-long political deadlock has added much to this multi-faceted crisis,
fuelling popular protests and delaying meaningful reforms that would help slow
down the deterioration.
The hyper-inflation corroding the value of the Lebanese pound has not only
eroded people’s purchasing power but also prevented public and private service
providers to continue offering basic goods and services at a reasonable price,
or even at all. The severe fuel shortage that the country has been experiencing
since August is a sheer example of that. The results have been debilitating:
long queues for fuel that were shown by all televisions around the world, long
queues for bread, for medicines, for babies’ formulas and recently for
passports. The resilient people of Lebanon are now tired of being resilient, of
thorny problems that life is throwing at them. They want simply to live in
dignity. Many people find themselves in a situation not even conceivable a year
ago as Lebanon was still considered a high middle-income country. The majority
of Lebanese people are now living in poverty. In March 2021, 78 per cent of the
Lebanese population (i.e. 3 million people) were estimated to live below the
poverty line while ‘extreme’ poverty reached as high as 36 per cent, which means
1.38 million Lebanese. And this is alarming! More and more Lebanese households
are unable to afford basic expenses like food, health, electricity, water,
internet, fuel and education. For the most vulnerable among the poor, the impact
is extremely devastating, and surviving has become their only goal. Starvation
has become a growing reality for thousands of people. According to a joint World
Bank-WFP assessment, 22 per cent percent of Lebanon’s families - almost a
quarter of the total- were unable to meet their dietary needs by end of 2020
while acute malnutrition rates among children aged 6 months to 5 years have
substantially increased in 2019 and 2020, with infant and young child feeding
practices falling short of the global standard. These numbers have surely soared
in 2021.
And yet the situation remains a living nightmare for ordinary people, causing
unspeakable suffering and distress for the most vulnerable. Today, we estimate
that more than 1 million Lebanese need relief assistance to cover their basic
needs, including food. To continue, the public health system is stretched beyond
its limit from the double impact of the economic crisis and the COVID19
outbreak. People are increasingly unable to access and afford healthcare amid
the growing shortages of medicines and medical supplies. Pharmacy shelves are
empty, hospital stocks are nearly depleted and home medicine cabinets are bare.
Cancer patients are paying a hefty price, with the majority forced to stop their
life-saving treatment. And this is unacceptable. This is like a ‘death penalty’
for all those whose lives depend heavily on medication! All the more, the loss
of salary values meant that skilled healthcare workers migrated elsewhere,
leaving behind a struggling health sector as COVID-19 continues to require
adequate care.
Education in Lebanon has been equally hard-hit. According to UNICEF, at least
1.2 million children -including Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian children- have
had their education disrupted for more than a year. And despite efforts to
reopen schools, the current energy crisis is jeopardizing the school year.
As with health workers, the devaluation of the Lebanese pound has significantly
affected teachers’ salaries, pushing many to seek opportunities elsewhere. Many
families are unable to cover the cost of education. Children’s mental health is
also at stake, with 32 per cent of Lebanese children provided with psychosocial
support at the beginning of 2021 compared to only 10 per cent in 2020. In
parallel, the number of children engaged in child labour is dramatically
increasing as one of the most flagrant negative coping mechanisms adopted by
vulnerable families. Due to electricity shortage, water supply is on the verge
of collapse and critical services are severely affected, including hospitals. If
the situation continues to worsen, up to 4 million people will potentially be
affected by water shortages or be completely cut off from water, including one
million refugees. In fact, the crisis has been also weighing heavily on
refugees. The preliminary findings of the 2021 Vulnerability Assessment of
Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) released two days ago, reveal a dire
situation with nine out of ten Syrian refugees falling under the extreme poverty
line – a 60 per cent increase since 2019. Half of the Syrian families are now
food insecure and about two-thirds have to limit food portion sizes or reduce
the number of meals consumed per day.
High levels of poverty are also reported within the 257,000 Palestine refugees
living in Lebanon and tensions in camps are growing, which increased pressure on
UNRWA to double relief assistance and attenuate tensions. On the other hand,
migrants, who traveled in the past to Lebanon in search for jobs and better
living conditions, have been living under precarious situations. According to a
recent assessment by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 70 per
cent of mostly Asian and African migrant and domestic workers living in Lebanon
(about 400,000 persons) report being stranded in the country without work or the
means to return home, and hence find themselves unable to meet their basic food
needs. For everyone, including Lebanese, illegal migration, including through
criminal networks, has been an increasingly adopted ‘way out’ of the country.
Sea departures are on the rise and for refugees, there is a considerable risk of
chain refoulement. For the UN and humanitarian partners, it is a matter of
professional and legal responsibility to continue to assist and protect the
Syrian and Palestine refugees in Lebanon, as well as the communities who host
them. It is also a humanitarian imperative to assist the Lebanese people and
foreign migrants throughout the country who are currently suffering the most.
Failing to do so is not just a matter of fairness and principles, but equally
one of stability and “do no harm”.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The stories of shock, of loss, of distress and of despair shared with me by the
people, were countless ever since I joined the UN family in Lebanon in August
2020. These heart-breaking stories were our impetus to deploy every effort to
help the people of Lebanon emerge from these unprecedented and subsequent
crises. We have a special obligation to act. That’s why with the generous
contributions of donors, we – the UN and our humanitarian partners in Lebanon-
have been working tirelessly to mitigate and contain the effects of this
multi-faceted crisis since 2020.
As unaddressed needs remained considerable, I decided in June 2021 to lead the
humanitarian community in articulating a whole-of-Lebanon, time-bound,
prioritized and evidence-based collective humanitarian response plan to
complement existing programs. The Emergency Response Plan was announced in the
margins of the 4th of August co-chaired UN-France conference on Lebanon, to
address critical humanitarian needs among Lebanese and migrants that were not
previously responded to.
The ERP includes 119 projects for a total of US$383 million, aiming at providing
critical life-saving assistance and protection over the coming 12 months to 1.1
million Lebanese and migrants among the most vulnerable, in the sectors of
education, food security, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, child
protection and protection against gender-based violence. In response to the
energy and fuel crisis, the plan also includes an emergency logistic operational
plan focusing on establishing a fuel supply chain to ensure the continuity of
the work of humanitarian actors on the one hand and provide fuel (over a very
limited period of time) to critical health, water and sanitation establishments
across Lebanon on the other hand.
The activities articulated in the ERP mostly revolve around providing direct
support to beneficiaries. This includes: (1) distribution of food and cash
assistance to around 500,000 people; (2) improved access to doctors and medicine
in Primary Health Care centers for around 250,000 people; (3) provision of legal
aid and access to safe houses for victims of home violence; (4) distribution of
sanitary products for women and girls and 100,000 hygiene kits to protect
families from COVID19; (5) provision of psychosocial support for approximately
100,000 children and other most-at risk-population; (6) nutritional surveillance
and provision of food supplements for 400,000 young children, pregnant and
lactating mothers; (7)provision of distance and in-person learning to children.
Each part of the plan, structured around a specific sector, articulates
clear objectives in terms of targeted population and impact of the
interventions, which will help us closely monitor and on regular basis the
implementation of the plan, be it at the level of funding or at the level of
tracking achievements and potential risks/challenges. And because transparency
and accountability are our guiding principles and shared values, these reports
will be publicly available.
Last August, in the UN-France co-chaired conference in support of people of
Lebanon, donors generously pledged US$370 million to fund the ERP. We count on
their boundless generosity to urgently fulfil their pledges to allow for timely
delivery of the emergency plan’s life-saving projects. The funding they provide
will save lives and make an enormous difference in alleviating the hardship of
the most vulnerable. In addition to that, a total of
US$10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund in New York and the
Lebanon Humanitarian Fund managed by OCHA, was also disbursed early September to
immediately finance the fuel delivery component of the plan. Such flexible
funding mechanisms are crucial to save lives and meet urgent humanitarian
assistance. Every dollar counts!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Clearly, to build forward better, a new set of humanitarian interventions will
not be a lasting solution for Lebanon. Humanitarian action is meant to be by
nature short-term, temporary and unsustainable. It primarily aims at saving
lives and alleviating the suffering of the people. It is not meant to solve the
root causes and drivers of a crisis. Only a sustainable solution can give back
the pride and dignity to those impacted. Lebanon is no
exception. We are doing our utmost to mitigate the current precarious situation,
but ultimately the responsibility lies in the hands of Lebanon’s leaders to take
the necessary actions and adopt much-needed reforms to help Lebanon stand back
on its feet and move towards the path of recovery. In
fact, throughout my interactions with the Lebanese authorities, including the
new Government, I have stressed the fundamental responsibility of the
Government, as the principal duty-bearer, to ensure that people have safe,
sustained and dignified access to basic social services. These are legitimate
and inalienable human rights!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
From this platform, I reiterate the UN, together with international partners,
our resolve and commitment to support the new Government in addressing the root
causes of the crisis and most importantly in putting the people at the center of
policies and plans.
Lebanon faces a hard road. So, reforms need to be implemented urgently to
alleviate the hardship of the people and put an end to the mounting humanitarian
needs. An Inclusive and Comprehensive Social protection is a MUST to help
protect the most vulnerable and avoid an increased impoverishment of the
population. Lebanon greatest richness lays with its
people, with its remarkable human capital. So, preserving this richness is the
best investment we can do to help Lebanon get back on its feet and move towards
a prosperous future. While working tirelessly on addressing the urgent and
immediate needs in Lebanon, our hopes remain on laying the groundwork for a
sustainable development agenda that puts Lebanon back on track.
A brighter future is still possible in Lebanon if we act together and if
we act NOW. We stand right by the people of Lebanon.
Thank you for your attention. Shukran."
Il est temps de faire ce qu'il faut. Sauf si c'est trop
tard...
Jean-Marie Kassab/October 01/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/102841/%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d9%83%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%a8-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d9%82%d8%aa-%d9%84%d9%81%d8%b9%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%ad/
Fût un temps où j'étais dans l'équipe des gagnants. On ne gagnait pas toujours
mais souvent le simple fait de survivre à une bataille et ne pas perdre trop de
mètres de terrain suffisait pour crier hourra.Sauf que ces victoires coutaient
énormément car le sang coulait abondement. La terre est gourmande , elle a de
temps en temps soif de sang. Loin d'être un cliché, cette soif pernicieuse est
une realité.
J'ai perdu trop d'amis, porté sur mon épaule trop de cercueils, et annoncé la
terrible nouvelle à trop de mamans , et croyez moi c'était la partie la plus
cruelle.
Croyant avoir gagné je compris dernièrement que nous avions perdu, et que tout
ces sacrifices avaient été inutiles. Que mes amis étaient morts pour rien, que
leurs âmes erreraient pour toujours et hanteraient les rues désolées de mon
pays.
Il est vrai que le Liban a survécu bon gré mal gré. Que ce qui en reste est
strictement du aux sacrifices de mes copains. Je le dis en regardant dans les
yeux ceux qui diraient le contraire. Ce ne sont que de sales ingrats, des
sangsues, des profiteurs de la pire espèce et sans doute responsables de ce qui
nous arrive. Responsables oui, car ils ont laissé nos portes largement ouvertes
à l' ennemi qui s'est faufilé sans être inquieté. Responsables parce qu'ils
gesticulent toujours et à ce jour comme des guignols.
Eparpillés , divisés, illettrés, castrats et manquant de courage. Les uns
veulent la fédération, les autres font l'éloge de laïcité et autant de sujets
hors sujet. Ils ne se rendent même pas compte que débattre du sexe des anges
n'est pas la priorité du moment: Constantinople est en feu.
Pour gagner il faut savoir faire ce qu'il faut, être prêt à s'investir
totalement mais surtout aller dans la bonne direction. Pour la trouver à cette
direction il faut un timonier, un chef qui sache tout et qui devance les troupes
pour donner le bon exemple.
Mais oú se cache-t-il ?
Le Liban est en guerre contre l'occupant Iranien. On ne botte pas le cul d' un
occupant avec des élections. On ne défend pas ses frontières avec des slogans .
On ne chasse pas l'occupant avec des réunions et encore des réunions. On ne
boutte pas dehors l'occupant en vociférant à la télé. Des " likes" sur les
réseaux sociaux ne libérent pas un pays. Des milliers de suiveurs sur insta ne
sont pas des troupes prêtes à se battre, ces suiveurs sont simplements des
connards qui n'ont rien à faire de leurs vies.
Il est temps de faire ce qu'il faut. Sauf si c'est trop tard...
Triste sort. Triste pays
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on October 01-02/2021
Blinken to Hold Talks in Paris after Subs Row
Agence France Presse/October 01/2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks in Paris next week in a
new bid to ease tensions after French anger over a submarine contract, the State
Department announced Friday. Blinken will travel to Paris from Monday through
Wednesday for a meeting of the OECD club of advanced market economies and also
meet French officials on "further strengthening the vital U.S.-France
relationship," spokesman Ned Price said. Blinken and his French counterparts
will discuss issues including "security in the Indo-Pacific region, the climate
crisis, economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the transatlantic
relationship and working with our allies and partners to address global
challenges and opportunities," Price said in a statement. Blinken will then fly
from Paris to Mexico City for his first trip to the neighboring country as the
top U.S. diplomat, a trip already announced by the Mexican government. France
was infuriated last month when Australia canceled a multibillion-dollar deal for
French submarines, saying it would pursue U.S. nuclear versions as tensions rise
with China. France accused the United States of betrayal and Australia of
back-stabbing and briefly withdrew its ambassador from Washington as a protest.
Tensions began to ease when President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with his
French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and acknowledged that the United States could
have communicated better with its longtime ally. Blinken had already been
planning to visit for the 60th anniversary of the Paris-based Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development. He will co-chair an OECD ministerial that
will look at promoting a green economy, a month before high-stakes U.N. climate
talks in Glasgow.
IRGC’s Quds Force members are soldiers outside the
borders: Iranian FM
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/01 October ,2021
Repeating previous statements issued by commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Friday, that
the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Guards, are “soldiers without borders,”
referring to their military missions outside Iran.
Abdullahian's words came during his meeting with Brigadier General Esmail Qaani,
commander of the Quds Force, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, to congratulate him on his appointment as a minister in the government
of hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The conservative minister also praised the activity of the Quds Force,
considering that they have made significant contributions to security assistance
in the country as well. He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will
follow the path of Qassem Soleimani, in a statement recalling the leaked
recordings that shook the country last May, when former Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif revealed the impact of what he described as “the field” on
foreign diplomacy in the country, in reference to the pressures of the
Revolutionary Guards and Soleimani in particular on the Ministry's plans,
international discussions and regional policy. These statements came days after
a prominent military commander in the country announced that his country has 6
armies outside its borders that work for it and defend it.
Ali Ghulam Rashid, the commander of what is known as "the headquarters of
Khatam al-Anbiya", confirmed in statements carried by the Iranian Mehr Agency
that Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, revealed, three
months before his death, that he had organized 6 armies outside Iranian
territory with the support of the Guard Command and the Army's General Staff. He
admitted that these armies have ideological tendencies, and their mission is to
defend Tehran against any attack, according to his claim.
He also indicated that among those armies are the Lebanese Hezbollah, the
Hamas and Jihad movements, the regime forces in Syria, the Popular Mobilization
Forces in Iraq, and the Houthi militia in Yemen, stressing that these forces
represent a deterrent force for his country. Lebanon’s
Hezbollah has always professed its allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei, repeatedly stressing through its senior officials that its money and
weapons come from Tehran. The rest of the factions
refrained from publicly acknowledging their affiliation with Tehran, although
they always offered expressions of thanks and praise to the Revolutionary
Guards.
Iran Condemns Bahrain Over Israel Opening Embassy
Associated Press/October 01/2021
Iran on Friday described Bahrain's hosting of Israel's foreign minister, who the
previous day inaugurated the Jewish state's embassy in Manama, as
"shameful".Iran and Israel are sworn enemies and Bahrain is one of four Arab
nations to have normalized ties with the Jewish state over the past year or so.
Sunni-ruled Bahrain has faced unrest among its large Shiite community which it
has consistently blamed on Iran, charges that Tehran denies.
"The shameful welcoming by Bahraini leaders to... the regime occupying
Jersualem" took place "against the will of the Bahraini nation," Iran's foreign
ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced in a statement.
The comments came after Israel's top diplomat Yair Lapid on Thursday
inaugurated his country's embassy in Bahrain, a year after the two countries
normalized ties and in a first official visit by a foreign minister of the
Jewish state to the Gulf kingdom. Lapid met King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, in
what Israeli media said was the first public meeting of a Gulf monarch with an
Israeli official. Khatibzadeh deplored "all initiatives seeking to stabilize the
destructive presence of Israel in the region." This rising presence "will lead
to further escalation and insecurity", he added. Alongside Bahrain, the United
Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco have all normalized ties with Israel over the
past year. The Gulf monarchy cut ties with Iran in 2016. Iran meanwhile refuses
to recognize Israel and consistently positions itself as a defender of the
Palestinian cause.
Iran warns ‘enemies’ against uncalculated moves amid
tensions with Azerbaijan
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/01 October ,2021
Iran’s defense minister on Friday warned Tehran’s “enemies” against making any
uncalculated moves amid tensions with neighboring Azerbaijan, saying the Islamic
Republic would give a “crushing” response to any such actions.
“Iran’s enemies will certainly receive a crushing response should they
take any irrational and ignorant action, and they will incur a heavy cost,”
Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani said in a tweet shared by Iran’s state
broadcaster. The Iranian army’s ground forces started
military exercises near the country’s border with Azerbaijan on Friday despite
criticism from Baku over the drills.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev earlier this week criticized Iran for holding
military drills near his country’s borders. “Every country can carry out any
military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now,
and why on our border?” Aliyev said in an interview published Monday with
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. In response, Iran’s foreign ministry
spokesman said on Tuesday the drills near the border with Azerbaijan were a
“question of sovereignty” and added that Tehran “will not tolerate the presence
of the Zionist regime” near its borders – a reference to Azerbaijan’s relations
with Israel. Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700 kilometers (430
miles). Iran is wary of Azerbaijan’s relations with Israel, a major supplier of
arms to Baku. Tehran is also wary over nationalists in Turkey and Azerbaijan
fanning separatist tendencies among its sizeable ethnic Azeri population.
Iran’s Azeris, the majority of whom live in its northwestern regions, took to
the streets in several cities last year in support of Azerbaijan during the
44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Israel foreign minister opens embassy in Manama, signals
determination against Iran
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
Lapid said that he was “a devoted supporter of the two-state solution” but
stressed he was not speaking on behalf of the government.
MANAMA--Bahrain hosted the Israeli foreign minister on Thursday for the
highest-level visit since the countries established ties last year. His visit
included the opening of an Israeli embassy in Manama but also a tour of a US
naval headquarters to signal common determination against Iran.
Israel’s top diplomat Yair Lapid opened the Israeli embassy one year after the
US-brokered the normalisation of ties. “We have officially opened the Israeli
embassy in Bahrain,” tweeted Lapid. “We agreed that by the end of the year,
there will be the opening of the Bahraini embassy in Israel.”
Lapid’s office said he and his Bahraini counterpart signed deals on cooperation
in medicine, healthcare, sports, and on water and environmental conservation.
Separately, the first Gulf Air commercial flight touched down in Tel Aviv,
launching a twice-weekly direct connection. Lapid met King Hamad bin Isa
Al-Khalifa, in what Israeli media said was the first public meeting of a Gulf
monarch with an Israeli official. The Israeli top diplomat also met Crown Prince
Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani.
“We talked about the cooperation between our countries and about taking the
official peace between us and turning it into an active, economic, security,
political and civic friendship,” Lapid tweeted following his sit-down with
Zayani.
Two-state solution
Zayani and Lapid also held a news conference, during which they signed a number
of memorandums of understanding, ranging from cooperation in environmental
conservation to sports. “Your visit builds on the considerable progress we have
already made … and underlines once again our shared desire to spread peace,
stability, and cooperation across the Middle East and achieve genuine and
lasting security and prosperity for its peoples,” said Zayani. Bahrain
reaffirmed its commitment to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, he added. Lapid said that he too was “a devoted supporter of the
two-state solution” but stressed he was not speaking on behalf of the
government. “I think it’s the right solution for the people of Israel and the
Palestinians as well. Not everyone in our government thinks the same,” he said.
He also said that the opening of embassies “will symbolise diplomatic
cooperation between us”. But there were signs of unhappiness about normalisation
with Israel among segments of Bahraini population. Protesters burned tyres on
the outskirts of Manama early Thursday, sending clouds of black smoke into the
air and the hashtag #BahrainRejectsZionists in Arabic was circulating on social
media. Extra security was stationed on the route to the airport and no Israeli
flags were visible on main roads. In Gaza, the
Islamist Hamas group criticised Bahrain for hosting Lapid, who returns to Israel
on Thursday evening. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said this represented “an
encouragement” of what he described as Israeli “crimes against our people”.
“Shared threats”
The visiting Israeli foreign minister highlighted what he saw as common vision
of Israel and Bahrain on Iran. “Our opportunities are shared. Our threats are
also shared, and they aren’t far from here,” Lapid said in remarks to reporters,
alluding to Iran. Touring the Bahrain headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet,
which has faced off Iranian vessels amid tensions over Tehran’s regional aims,
Lapid said: “Our three countries work together because we have similar interests
in the region.”“When we speak about peace, we need to remember that peace must
be protected from those who would harm it,” he added, according to his office.
The Fleet said on Twitter that Lapid and his hosts discussed regional maritime
security cooperation. The Gulf kingdom accuses Iran of stoking unrest in
Bahrain, a charge that Tehran denies.
Normalisation process
The UAE, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab states in decades to
normalise relations with Israel last year, following negotiations spearheaded by
former US president Donald Trump. The Jewish state had earlier reached peace
treaties with neighbouring Egypt and Jordan. On the first anniversary of the
accords this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged to continue the
efforts of the Trump government. “This administration will continue to build on
the successful efforts of the last administration to keep normalisation marching
forward,” Blinken said. “We will encourage more countries to follow the lead of
the Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. We want to widen the circle of peaceful
diplomacy.” Beyond economics, the rapprochement was also driven by mutual
concern over Iran, with the regional rivalry even pushing Saudi Arabia into
quietly building relations with the Jewish state.
Lapid is the main architect of the Israeli coalition government that ousted
ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who signed the Abraham Accords. Lapid has also
visited Morocco since becoming foreign minister in June.
Iran nuclear talks to resume in acceptable period of
time - EU
Reuters/October 01/2021
Stalled talks between Iran and world powers to reinstate a 2015 nuclear deal
will resume "soon", the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
on Thursday, while Tehran said it was evaluating the previous rounds of
negotiations. Speaking at a news conference in the
Qatari capital Doha, Borrell was referring to indirect talks between Tehran and
Washington in Vienna that began in April and were adjourned two days after
hard-line cleric Ephraim Raisin won Iran’s presidential election in June.
Borrell, in comments translated into Arabic by Al Jazeera television,
said he believed the negotiations aimed at bringing back Tehran and Washington
into full compliance with the agreement will resume "within an acceptable period
of time". After former U.S. President Donald Trump
ditched the deal three years ago and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran has
been rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, enriching it to higher levels of
fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up production.
President Joe Biden aims to restore the deal, but the sides disagree on
which steps need to be taken and when, with the key issues being what nuclear
limits Tehran will accept and what sanctions Washington will remove.
Western powers have urged Iran to return to negotiations and said time is
running out as Tehran's nuclear programme is advancing well beyond the limits
set by the deal. Tehran says its nuclear steps are
reversible if Washington lifts all sanctions. Iranian and Western officials have
said many issues remain to be resolved before the accord can be revived.
Echoing Iran's official stance, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman told Le
Monde newspaper that "Iran has reached conclusion that we certainly will return
to the nuclear talks" in Vienna. Saeed Khatibzadeh
added that Iran would not "waste an hour before returning to Vienna talks once a
re-evaluation of the sixth round of the nuclear talks" is completed by Raisi's
government. "The Biden administration should finally
make a decision: either it wants to preserve Trump's legacy or it wants to build
Biden's. This is a purely political decision," said Khatibzadeh, adding that "We
don't have a lot of time ahead of us".Despite Iran's need to bolster its economy
by negotiating an end to U.S. sanctions, insiders expect Raisi to adopt a
tougher line when the Vienna talks resume. European officials say they are
determined to keep unity among the parties involved in the nuclear negotiations
- China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and the United States - but have
become increasingly frustrated over China’s role and want Beijing to exert
greater influence given its close ties with Tehran."We are counting on China to
use the most convincing arguments in its own dialogue with Tehran," French
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a daily briefing on
Thursday. U.S. and European officials told Reuters on Tuesday that Washington
has reached out to China diplomatically about reducing its purchases of Iranian
crude oil. read more When asked about this, Chinese
foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday: "We firmly oppose
any unilateral sanction, and urge the U.S. to remove the so-called 'long-arm
jurisdiction' over third-party entities and individuals as soon as possible."
Egypt blocks alleged Muslim Brotherhood financing scheme
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
The scheme aimed to funnel funds using some companies into “terrorist
activities,” the interior ministry said.
aimed at financing the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and alleged a link to the
imprisoned founder and former chairman of dairy and juice firm Juhayna, Safwan
Thabet. The scheme aimed to funnel funds using Thabet’s companies into
“terrorist activities,” the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that
$8.4 million and ammunition had been found in an apartment in Giza, across the
Nile from central Cairo. It described Thabet as a “Brotherhood leader”.
The Thabet family have denied any wrongdoing in statements on social
media. A lawyer for Juhayna could not be reached.
Thabet was arrested in December and his son Seifeldin was detained in February
after taking over as chairman. In a statement released
on Monday, rights group Amnesty International said the authorities had failed to
produce evidence for the alleged affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Juhayna is a household name in Egypt and the country’s largest dairy products
and juice producer. The Brotherhood has been the subject of a sweeping crackdown
since then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led their ouster from power in 2013.
Juhayna continued to operate normally after Sisi became president the following
year. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in
1928 and has been banned through most of the country’s history, apart from a
brief period following the 2011 revolution. In 2012, Egypt elected Brotherhood
candidate Mohamed Morsi as the country’s president, but he was deposed following
massive protests a year later and his organisation was once more designated a
“terrorist” entity by the state. General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the military’s
takeover and became president in a 2014 election with an official 96.9 percent
of the vote. Sisi has presided over a sustained
crackdown on terrorism, focusing especially on the Muslim Brotherhood, but
extending also to other radical groups.
UN extends mission to Libya until January, after
Russia-UK standoff
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
Moscow rejected the language in a resolution drafted by London that would have
called for the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya.
UNITED NATIONS, New York--The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously
adopted a resolution extending its political mission in Libya, but only until
January 31, shortly after the country is to stage its presidential election,
after a fierce struggle between Britain and Russia over the text.
The 15-member Council had been on track to extend the mission in mid-September
for a year, key in the run-up to elections on December 24, which are intended to
turn the page on a decade of war. But a dispute erupted between Britain and
Russia, both of which have veto-wielding power on the Council. Moscow rejected
the language in a resolution drafted by London that would have called for the
withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya, as well as a clause on
the future of the UN envoy to Libya. Mired in the
standoff, the Security Council was forced to technically extend the mission’s
mandate by 15 days, until September 30, to give more time for negotiations
between Moscow and London, but the talks were in vain.
On Wednesday, Moscow once again threatened to veto the resolution as amended.
And then Russia pushed the issue even further by putting forth its own text in a
rare act of defiance. After an emergency meeting on Thursday between the five
permanent members of the Security Council, Britain, China, France, Russia and
the United States, they adopted an abbreviated resolution, extending the mission
until January 31, 2022.
‘Unfortunate’
Western and African members of the Council deplored the outcome on Thursday. The
United States called it “unfortunate,” while Kenya called for an African to lead
the process. Libya was gripped by violence and political turmoil in the
aftermath of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted long-time ruler Muammar
Gadhafi. In recent years, the oil-rich country has been split between two rival
administrations backed by foreign powers and myriad militias. Libyan Natiional
Army commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar was backed by Russia.After Haftar’s
forces were routed from the country’s west last year following Turkey’s dispatch
of troops and mercenaries to back the Tripoli-based Government of National
Accord (GNA), the two camps signed a ceasefire in Geneva in October. An interim
administration was established in March this year to prepare for presidential
and parliamentary polls on December 24.
But divisions quickly resurfaced, raising concerns that elections might not go
ahead. The United Nations has also recommended having just one person lead its
mission to the country. In 2020, the United States imposed a dual leadership,
against the advice of the other 14 members of the Security Council: an emissary
in Geneva, Slovak Jan Kubis and a coordinator based in the Libyan capital,
Zimbabwean Raisedon Zenenga. The UN recommends having only one emissary based in
Tripoli, as was the case in the past. Both the British
and Russian resolutions included language highlighting the need to have a
special envoy based in Tripoli, flanked by two deputies. But that language was
not included in the final text.
US military enters the fray in Libya to push for elections,
exit of foreign forces
Habib Lassoued/The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
General Townsend attends an unprecedented meeting in Tripoli of the “5+5
committee”.
TUNIS--Washington has abandoned all its previous reservations and fully entered
the Libyan fray to the point of appearing as the main actor in the settlement
process, as it presses for the withdrawal of mercenaries and the unification of
the army.
In an unprecedented development, the Libyan Joint Military Committee “5 + 5” (JMC)
held its first meeting in the capital, Tripoli, in the presence of US Army
General Stephen Townsend, commander, US Africa Command (AFRICOM), in Tripoli and
US ambassador Richard Norland, who also serves as US special envoy to Libya.
Moreover, the importance of the meeting was increased because five LNA officers
are members of the JMC and this was a first open meeting between LNA
representatives and the Americans.
The US embassy in Libya described the meeting as “a historic step in bringing
Libyans together, particularly in the security sphere.”
“The United States remains committed to facilitating full implementation of the
October ceasefire agreement, the full withdrawal of all foreign forces and
fighters, as well as the full unification of Libyan military institutions” the
US embassy added on Twitter.
Experts said that the meeting highlighted changes in the American role in Libya.
Washington is clearly signalling its fully-fledged return to Libya and saying
that it insists on the implementation of all the terms of the military agreement
concluded on October 23, 2020 and the political deal reached at the Political
Dialogue Forum held in Tunisia last November.
Washington confirmed its insistence on the elections being held on their
scheduled date of December 24, after the US congress voted by a large majority,
September 28, for the “Libya Stabilisation Act”, which stipulates that penalties
shall be imposed on individuals who contribute to violence in Libya.
The law also provides for the punishment of those who deploy mercenaries,
support militias and violate the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations.
The Act requires the US President to impose sanctions on individuals hindering
stabilisation efforts, violating human rights, looting state assets or natural
resources and committing war crimes and violating the arms embargo imposed by
the United Nations. It calls on the United States to take a more active role in
resolving the conflict, supporting humanitarian assistance, democratic
governance, civil society, future elections and improving the financial
management of the Central Bank and the National Oil Corporation.
The Act urges the US Agency for International Development to provide
humanitarian assistance to individuals and communities in Libya, including
health assistance, food, shelter and support for an effective response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Vice-President of the Presidential Council of the Government of
National Accord, Ahmed Maitig, said, “the US Congress affirmed its support for
achieving stability in Libya by approving the stability law.”
Maitig added, that the vote aims to ensure “the success of the elections at the
end of December 2021, the unification of institutions and the completion of
national reconciliation”. Libyan researcher, Jamal Shallouf, head of the Silvium
Foundation for Research and Studies said he was reserved about the meeting being
held at the Mitiga base in the capital, Tripoli, “which is controlled by
militias,” and was secured by AFRICOM forces, unlike previous meetings that were
held at the committee’s main headquarters in Sirte, which were secured by
members of the Libyan National Army. But more important than those aspects, he
added, are the announced results, particularly in relation to setting a
timetable for the departure of foreign fighters from the country.
Libyan analysts believe that the United States was able to overcome an important
psychological barrier, by sponsoring the first meeting of the Joint Military
Committee in Tripoli, which paves the way for other meetings in cities in the
west of the country, which is still under the control of armed militias. This
clearly indicates that Washington does not see an alternative to dialogue
between the main protagonists and the unification of the military institution.
Its outlook on the LNA is largely positive, analysts point out, especially in
regard to the war on terrorism and securing the sources of wealth, despite its
misgivings about over its links to the Russians. But it is equally reserved
about the Tripoli authorities’ acceptance of the continued presence of Turkish
troops and mercenaries in Libya.
A member of the Joint Military Committee “5 + 5” representing the Libyan
National Army, Lieutenant-General Faraj Al-Sawa’, said that the committee’s
meeting in Tripoli with US officials was positive.
He added in press statements that the meeting directly addressed the withdrawal
of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libyan territory and confirmed the
date of the presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of the year. He
revealed that Haftar had ordered, before handing over his duties, as
commander-in-chief of the army, the withdrawal of military forces from the city
of Sirte, as a goodwill gesture and confidence-building measure towards
resolving security problems.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya welcomed the meeting of the “5 + 5”
joint military committee in Tripoli.
“This meeting is yet another strong message of unity by the JMC and an
indication of strong coordinated efforts, ” it said.
Observers indicate that there is progress on the ground. Najwa Wahiba, the
spokeswoman for the Presidential Council, indicated there are likely to be moves
regarding the exit of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, considering
that their presence “is unacceptable and must end sooner or later.”
The military agreement as well as US and UN positions do not exclude the Turkish
forces present in western Libya from call for all foreign troops to leave Libya.
Their exit has become a prerequisite for unifying the military institution and
achieving national reconciliation.
Libyan analysts in the capital, Tripoli, told the Arab Weekly that “the US
position has frustrated the the hopes of the Prime Minister of the National
Unity Government, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, to extend his term in office and also
forced him to accept the timetable for the exit of foreign forces and
mercenaries, after all attempts to change the direction of Washington’s
positions have failed.”
Tunisia’s new PM in race against time to cope with
economic crisis
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
TUNIS--Tunisia’s crisis-stricken economy will be a top priority for the new
government of prime minister-designate Najla Bouden, after a decade of political
instability that has stymied foreign investment. Heavily in debt, with
spiralling inflation and widespread unemployment worsened by the coronavirus
pandemic, Tunisia is hoping for a bailout package from the International
Monetary Fund. But talks have been suspended since President Kais Saied on July
25 sacked the government, suspended parliament and seized a range of executive
powers, based on Article 80 of the constitution, later moving to rule by decree.
On Wednesday, he charged Bouden, a higher education senior official with a
background in geology, with forming a new administration.
“The incoming government must quickly relaunch negotiations with the IMF
in order to obtain funding,” said economist and former trade minister Mohsen
Hassan. “Unfortunately Tunisia is paying the price of political instability and
the coronavirus crisis, as well as the political class’s ignorance of
economics.”The Tunisian economy has grown by as little as 0.6 percent on average
over the past decade, with inflation averaging six percent.
Around a fifth of the country’s 12 million population is in poverty or
vulnerable, according to World Bank figures, a toll worsened by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Investors losing confidence
Coronavirus particularly slammed the crucial tourism sector, which in normal
years accounts for 14 percent of gross domestic product and hundreds of
thousands of jobs. Overall the pandemic caused the economy to shrink by 8.8
percent in 2020. To find a way out of the abyss, the government of prime
minister Hichem Mechichi turned earlier this year to the IMF for Tunisia’s
fourth bailout in a decade, asking the global lender for a three-year loan of $4
billion. The talks, expected to involve IMF demands for painful structural
reforms, have been on hold since Saied’s July 25 power grab.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Bouden promised to “work for the formation of a
homogenous government to tackle the country’s economic difficulties and fight
against corruption.”But with debt standing at over 80 percent of GDP, Tunisia
has dipped into international funds to service its debts, as well as to pay the
salaries of its vast civil service, some 14 percent of the total workforce.
Bouden will be Tunisia’s tenth prime minister since the 2011 uprising
that ousted longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and threw the country
into a decade of political instability.
Hassan urged the government to declare a “state of economic emergency”.
The economist pointed out that since Saied’s dramatic July moves, the
president has not announced any economic measures apart from vowing to battle
corruption and lower prices. “Economic actors are losing trust and we have lost
a large number foreign partners,” he warned.
Clarifying the roadmap
For Mehdi Bhouri, a former central bank macroeconomist who has launched a
business growing algae for pharmaceutical applications, the lack of a roadmap is
an obstacle to investment. “I understand that we are in an exceptional
situation, but there needs to be clarity,” he said. Bhouri said he had applied
for funding from overseas investors to move to industrial-scale production, but
that receiving it depended on stability. Tunisia’s reputation as a destination
for investment has taken repeated hits in recent years. The day after Saied’s
July 25 announcement, ratings agency Fitch warned that the country’s political
troubles risked further delaying the IMF talks. Tunisia needs to find 4.5
billion euros ($5.3 billion) in debt repayments this year alone. Tarak Cherif,
head of the Tunisian Confederation of Citizen Enterprises, welcomed Saied’s
moves on July 25. But he called for “the rapid formation of a government and
measures to encourage economic actors in the country to create wealth and
investment.”“Every day that passes counts against us,” he added.
Turkey Wants Compensation for Ouster from U.S.-Led Jet
Program
Associated Press/October 01/2021
Turkey intends to seek compensation for its removal from a U.S.-led stealth
fighter jet program, possibly during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on
the margins of a Group of 20 meeting next month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said. Erdogan, speaking to journalists during a flight back from a
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, also said there
would be no "turning back" from deal with Russia for Turkey's acquisition of
S-400 advanced missile defense systems. That deal led to NATO-member Turkey's
removal from the international program that produces F-35 fighter jets. Erdogan
said he hoped to meet Biden at the G-20 meeting in Rome to discuss the F-35
project, including a $1.4 billion payment Turkey had made before its ouster from
the program. Another meeting between the Turkish and U.S. leaders could also
take place on the sidelines of a November climate conference in Glasgow,
Scotland, Erdogan said. "We made a $1.4 billion
payment, what will become of that?" Erdogan said. "We did not - and do not -
earn this money easily. Either they will give us our planes or they will give us
the money." Asked about Turkey's plans to purchase additional S-400 systems
despite threats of further U.S. sanctions, Erdogan responded: "The S-400 process
continues. There is no turning back." His comments were reported by the private
Turkish news channel NTV and other media. Turkey was kicked out of the F-35
program and its defense officials were sanctioned after the country bought the
Russian-made S-400 missile defense system two years ago. The U.S. strongly
objects NATO members using the Russian system, saying it poses a security threat
to the F-35s. Turkey maintains the S-400's components
could be used independently without being integrated into NATO systems and
therefore pose no risk. The U.S. also sanctioned
Turkey for its purchase under a 2017 law aimed at pushing back Russian
influence. The move was the first time that the law, known as CAATSA, was used
to penalize a U.S. ally. Erdogan's talks with Putin in the Black Sea resort of
Sochi focused on steps that would deepen defense cooperation between Turkey and
Russia, including partnerships for aircraft engines, fighter jets and
submarines, the Turkish leader said. Russia also could
be involved in the construction of Turkey's second and third nuclear power
plants, and of a space launch platform, he said. Erdogan traveled to Sochi to
discuss the situation in Syria, where Turkey and Russia back opposing sides in
the conflict. Russia is the main ally of the Syrian government, while Turkey
supports groups that have fought to unseat Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Russian and Turkish troops have, however, cooperated in Syria's northwestern
Idlib province - the final holdout of rebel forces - and in seeking a political
solution in the country. Erdogan said he and Putin
agreed to continue to work together toward restoring calm in Idlib.
Defiant of US, Erdogan mulls wider defence cooperation with
Russia
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
The Turkish president said he proposed that Turkey and Russia work together on
building two more nuclear power plants. Other projects include building jet
engines, ships and submarines.
ANKARA-–Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed deepening defence
industry cooperation with Russia during talks with his counterpart Vladimir
Putin this week, the Turkish leader was quoted as saying Thursday.
Erdogan and Putin held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months in the
Black Sea resort of Sochi Wednesday, with the Syrian conflict high on their
agenda. “We had the opportunity to discuss what steps
we could take on plane motors, warplanes,” the Turkish leader told journalists
on his return to Turkey. “Another area where we can
take several steps together is on building boats. We will, God willing, take
joint steps even on submarines,” he added, NTV broadcaster reported. His
comments will raise eyebrows in the West and especially in the United States,
after Washington slapped sanctions on Turkey last year over its
multi-billion-dollar purchase of the Russian-made S-400 air defence system. The
US also expelled Turkey from the F-35 programme under which Western allies
produce the next-generation fighter jet’s parts and secure its early purchasing
rights. Ankara was expecting as many as 100 of the
stealth fighter jets and multiple Turkish suppliers were involved in the
construction.
Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to the S-400, vowing Ankara “would not
take a step back” from the purchase, but called on the US to either give the
planes Turkey ordered or return its $1.4 billion payment.
Relations between Turkey and the US are strained and Erdogan admitted
last week that his personal ties with US President Joe Biden had “not gotten off
to a good start”. Erdogan also said he proposed that Turkey and Russia could
work together on building two more nuclear power plants, on which the Russian
side agreed to cooperate. Turkey’s first nuclear power plant is under
construction by Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear energy firm in the country’s
south coast and it is expected to be online for Turkey’s centenary as a
post-Ottoman republic in 2023.
Discussing Syria
Erdogan offered only vague comments on the two men’s talks about northwestern
Syria, where regime troops and Moscow have increased airstrikes in recent weeks.
“We focused on the need to take steps together on the issue,” Erdogan said. The
two men, who did not address reporters after their meeting, had been expected to
discuss Syria. On Tuesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar had said Ankara
hoped the talks would result in a return to “a peaceful situation according to
our agreement.”Russia and Turkey have historically had complex relations,
balancing regional rivalries with finding common ground on economic and
strategic interests. In recent years, the two powers
have clashed, in particular in Syria, where Moscow and Ankara support opposing
camps in the civil war. In Syria, they last year
sponsored a ceasefire deal in the northwestern Idlib region, home to the last
major jihadist and rebel stronghold in northwest Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 11
fighters from a pro-Turkish rebel group had been killed Sunday in Russian air
raids outside the north Syria town of Afrin. The war monitor said such Russian
raids are rare in this region of Syria, which has been controlled by Turkey and
its Syrian rebel allies for three years. Earlier in the day Erdogan told Putin
he believes there are great benefits in “Turkey and Russia keeping stronger
relations each passing day”. The steps we have taken with Russia related to
Syria are of utmost importance,” Erdogan said. “The peace there depends on
Turkey-Russia relations.”
Concerns over low Iraqi turnout prompt top Shia cleric to
urge voting
The Arab Weekly/October 01/2021
Sistani asked voters to “benefit from this opportunity to carry out real
change.”BAGHDAD--Iraq’s top Shia Muslim cleric on Wednesday urged Iraqis to vote
in order to “carry out real change” in next month’s parliamentary elections.
The statement from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s office came against the
backdrop of potentially high rates of abstention in the October 10 ballot, which
follows a popular uprising. Initially expected in 2022, the vote was brought
forward in a rare official concession to autumn 2019 protests, when tens of
thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to demonstrate against crumbling public
services and a government they decried as corrupt and inept.
Hundreds died in months of protest-related violence.
But the ballot has generated little enthusiasm among Iraq’s 25 million
voters, while the activists and parties behind the uprising have largely decided
to boycott the ballot. “The supreme religious leader encourages everyone to
participate consciously and responsibly in the next elections,” the statement
from Sistani’s office said. Even if the process has
shortcomings, “it is the best way to move the country toward a future that one
hopes will be better.”One of Shia Islam’s top clerics, Sistani spent years under
house arrest during Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime. After Saddam’s fall in
2003, Sistani threw his support behind elections, was a voice for moderation and
criticised government graft. In his statement on Wednesday, he asked voters to
“benefit from this opportunity to carry out real change in the administration of
the state and dismiss the corrupt and incompetent hands from its main cogs”.
The statement emphasised that Sistani does not support any candidate and
appealed to voters to choose those “who support the sovereignty of Iraq, its
security and prosperity.”Political scientist Marsin Alshamary said that in
Iraq’s last elections, held in 2018, Sistani had said people could choose to
vote or not. “It was up to them. And people
interpreted that as you can boycott,” Alshamary said. The 2018 elections saw the
entry into parliament for the first time of candidates from the Hashed al-Shaabi,
a network of mostly pro-Iran paramilitary groups who helped defeat the
Sunni-extremist Islamic State group. The Hashed held
the second-largest bloc in Iraq’s outgoing parliament and hopes for bigger gains
this election. Analysts are doubtful, however, favouring the movement of
firebrand Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose Saeroon bloc held 54 seats, the
largest in parliament.
Dubai's Expo Opens, Bringing First World Fair to the
Mideast
Associated Press/October 01/2021
After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle
East's first ever World Fair opened on Friday in Dubai, with hopes the
months-long extravaganza draws both visitors and global attention to this
desert-turned-dreamscape.
Named Expo 2020, the event was postponed by a year due to the outbreak of the
coronavirus last year. While that could have an impact on how many people flock
to the United Arab Emirates, the six-month-long exhibition offers Dubai a
momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place
where all are welcome for business. Not long ago, the
site of the 1,080 acre (438 hectare) expo was barren desert. Less than a decade
later, it is a buzzing futuristic landscape with robots, a new metro station,
multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like
"sustainability" and "opportunity" — all built, like much of the Gulf, by
low-paid migrant workers. Organizers say 192 nations
are represented at the expo. The U.S. pavilion will showcase a replica of the
Space X Falcon 9 rocket. Italy's pavilion houses a 3-D replica of Michelangelo's
biblical hero, David, that is 17 feet high (5.2 meters). Other attractions
include an African food hall, a royal Egyptian mummy, concerts and performances
from around the world, and the option to dine on a $500 three-course meal with
glow-in-the-dark cuisine.
Since first making a splash in London in 1851, world fairs have long been an
opportunity for nations to meet, exchange ideas, showcase inventions, promote
culture and build business ties. For more than a century, these global
exhibitions have captured the imagination and showcased some of humanity's most
important innovations. The first World Fair held in the United States in 1876
debuted Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, the typewriter, a mechanical
calculator and Heinz Ketchup. Held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that fair
attracted nearly 10 million people at a time when the entire U.S. population was
estimated to be just 40 million. One of its main buildings, Memorial Hall, is
now a museum. Other fairs showcased inventions like the sewing machine, the
elevator, carbonated soda, the Ferris wheel and, in 1939 in New York, the
television. People journeyed far for the chance at a glimpse of the world in
ways they couldn't otherwise access. This year's expo
is happening amid a global pandemic, when untold numbers are still working and
studying remotely — and connecting to the world virtually. It's unclear how many
visitors Dubai can attract, and how much the expo will stimulate its
tourism-driven economy.
To enter the expo site, visitors will need to show a negative PCR test or proof
of COVID-19 vaccination.So what is a World Fair in this not-quite-post-pandemic
year of 2021? Dubai's ruler and the force behind the
emirate's transformation, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, says Expo 2020
is a chance to showcase the best of human excellence.
"It offers a platform to forge a united worldwide effort to build a more
sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind," he told guests at the
expo's opening ceremony Thursday night.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince and de-facto ruler of the UAE's
seat of power, Abu Dhabi, used his speech to emphasize "the ethos of this land"
as a meeting point for cultures and tolerance. Whether
Iran or Israel, every nation is welcome at Dubai's expo.
Human Rights Watch, however, says organizers are promoting an inaccurate image
of the UAE as an "open and tolerant country" for public relations purposes.
Instead, it said in a scathing report that "abusive authorities forcefully bar
all peaceful criticism and dissent" in the country, jailing activists and
carrying out pervasive domestic surveillance programs. "The UAE has embarked on
a decades-long effort to whitewash its reputation on the international stage,"
the rights group said. The expo site will attempt to dazzle visitors with a
centerpiece dome, marketed as the world's largest 360-degree projection screen.
Its construction required 8.5 miles (13.6 kilometers) of steel.
Some World Fair structures remain iconic markers of the human journey and
our industrial evolution. None more so than the Eiffel Tower, which was
constructed in Paris, not only to be the tallest structure in the world at the
time, but to serve as the entrance to the 1889 World Fair. Millions are still
drawn to this marvel of wrought-iron lattice work whose image today floods
social media feeds. The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, built for the 1962
World Fair, is another structure with continued prominence and allure.
While most fairs were held in Europe and the United States, none have been
hosted in the Middle East until now.
Migrants on New Route to Europe Get Trapped Between
Borders
Associated Press/October 01/2021
After enduring a decade of war in Syria, Boshra al-Moallem and her two sisters
seized their chance to flee. Her brother, who escaped years earlier to Belgium,
had saved enough money for their trip, and word was spreading online that a new
migration route into Europe had opened through Belarus.
But the journey proved terrifying and nearly deadly. Al-Moallem became trapped
at the border of Belarus and Poland for 20 days and was pushed back and forth
between armed guards from each side in an area of swamps. She endured cold
nights, mosquitoes, hunger and terrible thirst. Only after she collapsed from
exhaustion and dehydration did Polish guards finally take her to a hospital. "I
didn't expect this to happen to us. They told us it's really easy to go to
Europe, to find your life, to run (from) war," the 48-year-old said as she
recovered this week in a refugee center in eastern Poland. "I didn't imagine I
would live another war between the borders."
Al-Moallem is one of thousands of people who traveled to Belarus in recent weeks
and were then pushed across the border by Belarusian guards. The European Union
has condemned the Belarusian actions as a form of "hybrid war" against the bloc.
Originally from Homs, Al-Moallem was displaced to Damascus by the war. She said
Belarusian officials tricked her into believing the journey into the EU would be
easy and then used her as a "weapon" in a political fight against Poland. But
she also says the Polish border guards were excessively harsh, denying her water
and using dogs to frighten her and other migrants as the guards pushed them back
across to Belarus, over and over again. For years, people fleeing war in the
Middle East have made dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean and Aegean
seas, seeking safety in Western Europe. But after the arrival of more than a
million people in 2015, European Union nations put up concrete and razor-wire
walls, installed drone surveillance and cut deals with Turkey and Libya to keep
migrants away. The far less protected path into the EU
through the forests and swamps of Eastern Europe emerged as a route only after
the EU imposed sanctions on the regime of the authoritarian Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko, following a flawed election and a harsh crackdown on
protesters. Suddenly people from Iraq, Syria and
elsewhere were flying to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on tourist visas and
then traveling by car — many apparently aided by smugglers — to the border.
The three EU countries that border Belarus — Poland, Lithuanian and Latvia —
accuse Lukashenko of acting to destabilize their societies.
If that is indeed the aim, it is working. Poland denied entry to
thousands of migrants and refused to let them apply for asylum, violating
international human rights conventions. The country has had its behavior
criticized by human rights groups at home and abroad. Stanislaw Zaryn, a
spokesman for Poland's special services, told The Associated Press that Polish
forces always provide help to migrants if their lives are endangered. In other
cases, while it might pain them not to help, Zaryn insisted that Poland must
hold its ground and defend its border because it is being targeted in a
high-stakes standoff with Belarus, which is backed by Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
"Poland is of the opinion that only by thoroughly securing our border with
Belarus are we able to stop this migration route, which is a route artificially
created by Lukashenko with Putin's support. It was artificially created in order
to take revenge on the entire European Union," Zaryn said.
With six migrants found dead along the border so far and small children returned
to Belarus this week, human rights workers are appalled. They insist Poland must
respect its obligations under international law to allow the migrants to apply
for asylum, and not push them back across the border.
"The fact that these are Lukashenko's political actions directed against Poland
and directed against the European Union is obvious to us," said Marianna
Wartecka with the refugee rights group Fundacja Ocalenie. "But this does not
justify the actions of the Polish state."
Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the head of Poland's Roman Catholic Church, also
weighed in, giving his support to medics seeking access to the border to help.
"We should not allow our brethren to suffer and die on our borders," he said.
Lukashenko denies that his forces are pushing people into Poland, but his state
media have seized on Poland's response to depict the EU as a place where human
rights are not respected.
After traveling from Syria to Lebanon, al-Moallem, who was an English teacher in
Syria, flew to Minsk, and from there took a taxi with her sisters and a
brother-in-law to the border. Belarusian forces then guided the group to a spot
to cross into Poland. Crying as she told her story in
English, Al-Moallem said that Belarusian forces told them: "It's a really easy
way to get to Poland. It's a swamp. Just go through the swamp and up the hill,
and you will be in Poland.""And when we were trying to get up the hill, Polish
border guards pushed us back. Families, women, men, children. The children were
screaming and crying," she recalled. "I was asking Polish border guards, 'Please
just a drop of water. I'm so thirsty. I've been here without a drop of water.'"
But all they would do is snap back: "Go to Belarus. We are not
responsible for you." That happened repeatedly, with the Belarusian forces
taking them back, sometimes giving them nothing more than some bread, and then
returning them the next night. During her ordeal, she took videos of the
desperate migrants with her phone and posted some to Facebook. Her videos and
her account to the AP provide rare eyewitness evidence of the crisis at the
border.
Such scenes unfold largely out of public view because Poland, following
Lithuania and Latvia, declared a state of emergency along the border, which
prevents journalists and human rights workers from going there.
The Polish government's measures, which also involve bolstering border defenses
with soldiers, are popular with many Poles. The conservative ruling party, which
won power in 2015 on a strong anti-migrant platform, has seen its popularity
strengthen in opinion polls amid the new crisis.
Despite Poland's efforts, there are reports that some asylum-seekers have
managed to cross into the EU undetected and headed farther west, often to
reunite with relatives in Germany. Al-Moallem says she and her relatives plan to
leave the center where they are staying now and travel across the EU's open
borders to their brother in Belgium. They plan to seek asylum there. All she
wants, she said, is for her family to be reunited after years of trauma and "to
feel safe."
World Bank Chief in Landmark Sudan Visit, Focuses on
Reforms
Associated Press/October 01/2021
The head of the World Bank held talks Thursday with Sudan's transitional
leaders, focusing on the country's daunting economic challenges and a reform
program the African nation is undertaking to overhaul the battered economy.
David Malpass landed in Khartoum late Wednesday, the first visit by a
World Bank president to Sudan in around 50 years. From the Sudanese capital, he
delivered a virtual address to the annual meetings of the financial institution
and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok called the visit "a historical moment"
for his country, which is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular
uprising led to the military's overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in
2019. "This transition can only succeed if it is
anchored on economic opportunity for all Sudanese, irrespective of gender,
geography, race, religion, or income level," Hamdok said. "Our economy requires
deep, fundamental reforms." Sudan embarked on what
Hamdok called "homegrown economic reforms" last year. The program is meant to
transform Sudan's economy and have the nation rejoin the international community
after over two decades of isolation. Battered by years
of mismanagement and sanctions, Sudan was also plunged into an economic crisis
when the oil-rich south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it
more than half of public revenues and 95% of oil exports.
Sudan's government program, backed by the World Bank and the IMF, has
included a series of austerity measures such as floating the currency and
slashing fuel subsidies. The measures have led to hikes in the price of fuel and
other essential goods. Malpass welcomed Sudan's "bold
reforms," re-engagement with the international community, and the clearance of
its its overdue payments to the World Bank after the U.S. provided bridge
financing of $1.15 billion. The debt clearance has
allowed the government to access new types of international financing for the
first time in nearly three decades. The World Bank said in May it has allocated
$2 billion to Sudan to finance big infrastructure projects along with others
over the next 12 months.
Finance Minister Gibreil Ibrahim hailed Malpass' visit as a sign that Sudan's
integration into the international community "is progressing in strides."Malpass,
however, warned about tensions between the generals and civilians in the
government, which have increased over the past week after authorities said they
foiled a coup attempt on Sep. 22. "It's critical to avoid political slippages,
because there is no development without peace and stability," he said.
Still, thousands of Sudanese took to the streets in Khartoum and
elsewhere on Thursday to demand an exclusively civilian transitional government.
The protesters also accused the generals of derailing its transition to
democracy.
The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 01-02/2021
Hunter Biden and the Art of Corruption
Peter Schweizer/Gatestone Institute/October 01/2021
It is the latest in a string of scams Hunter Biden has undertaken. First, it was
his being named, with no expertise whatsoever in either Ukraine or the oil and
gas business, to the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil and gas
company under investigation for fraud. Then it was the deluxe payday in 2012 for
his Rosemont-Seneca real estate investment partnership, which was bankrolled to
the tune of more than $1.5 billion by Chinese investors with close ties to the
Chinese Communist Party.
It is genius-level corruption, an ethical nightmare for the White House, and a
masterpiece of congressional and media dereliction of duty.
Bergès himself has said he is eager to expand his business into the Chinese
market. Who will know if China's art-loving billionaires, all connected deeply
to the Communist Party and in some cases to the Chinese military, are Hunter's
benefactors?
Are we really supposed to believe that the anonymity of the buyers will remain a
tight secret, and that Chinese government-connected buyers will not somehow let
the Bidens know they are Hunter's newest and biggest fans?
Money-laundering in the art market is nothing new. A Senate Homeland Security
and Government Oversight committee report last year identified the art market as
the "largest legal, unregulated market in the United States" and a significant
weakness in the nation's sanctions and anti-money laundering regimes. Simply
put, art transactions are not covered under what's known as the Bank Secrecy
Act, which require financial institutions to maintain anti-money laundering and
anti-terrorism financing controls.
Is there any reason to doubt that the proceeds from Hunter's artistic payday
will somehow once again find their way into the Biden family estate?
Why are they failing to scrutinize what is so obviously a back-door scheme to
funnel money to the president's son from foreign sources? Every American who
cares about transparency in government should be outraged.
President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, has now plunged into the world of
international art. Apparently, Hunter's paintings might sell for as much as
$500,000 to various anonymous aficionados, according to Hunter's new art dealer,
Georges Bergès. It is the latest in a string of scams Hunter Biden (pictured)
has undertaken. They say the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder, but
does that apply to corruption as well?
President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, has now plunged into the world of
international art, with a New York gallery owner brokering art sales for the
rare, emerging talent. Apparently, Hunter's paintings might sell for as much as
$500,000 to various anonymous aficionados, according to Hunter's new art dealer,
Georges Bergès.
It is the latest in a string of scams Hunter Biden has undertaken. First, it was
his being named, with no expertise whatsoever in either Ukraine or the oil and
gas business, to the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil and gas
company under investigation for fraud. Then it was the deluxe payday in 2012 for
his Rosemont-Seneca real estate investment partnership, which was bankrolled to
the tune of more than $1.5 billion by Chinese investors with close ties to the
Chinese Communist Party. Hunter had little or no experience in private equity,
either, but he had just arrived in Beijing aboard Air Force Two with his father
the Vice President, just two weeks before that enormous deal was announced.
And now, once again with no real experience or any formal training in art,
Hunter has become an artiste, whose dabblings with collages and mixed-media
creations might command top-dollar from international collectors. One might
wonder: Is he any good?
Chris Cilizza of CNN asked that of Sebastian Smee, the Washington Post's
Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic, who likened what he saw to "a cafe painter."
"By which I mean, you see a certain kind of art in coffee shops, and some of it
is OK and a lot of it is bad, and sometimes it's surprisingly good. But you
wouldn't, unless you were related to the artist, spend more than $1,000 on it."
The New York Times gently described Hunter's work as "leaning toward the
surreal." Smee explained, "People sometimes say 'surreal' when they mean
'random.'"
But there's nothing "random" here. It is just yet one more blatant scam by Joe
Biden's son. It is genius-level corruption, an ethical nightmare for the White
House, and a masterpiece of congressional and media dereliction of duty.
The obvious problem is that even though the White House has said the identities
of the purchasers of Hunter's art will be anonymous, there is no way to know.
Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, said in
July:
"There's no mechanism for monitoring, no mechanism for notifying the public if
confidentiality is broken, no mechanism for tracking if buyers get access to
[the government]."
My investigative team at the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) has the
30,000 emails contained on Hunter Biden's laptop, and the corroborating email
records that establish their authenticity. We have been going through these
emails by hand and have identified concrete examples of Hunter Biden paying
bills for his father while the latter was Vice President. As I said on Maria
Bartiromo's Fox News program recently, that is illegal.
We at GAI have seen this kind of thing before. The story of the Clinton
Foundation that we broke in 2015 was full of this kind of "bank-shot"
influence-peddling and corruption. Companies seeking to influence Hillary
Clinton while she was Secretary of State under President Barack Obama were,
inexplicably, suddenly donating enormous sums of money to her family's charity.
We were able to identify the donors and their real interests through tax and
corporate records, even as the Clinton Foundation itself would not reveal all of
its donors. We could, as investigative journalists, corroborate the coincidences
through public records with a lot of digging.
No such thing will be possible when Hunter Biden's artwork is peddled by Bergès
through his private gallery, especially if the purchasers are foreign interests
from countries where tax laws are not so rigorous. Bergès himself has said he is
eager to expand his business into the Chinese market. Who will know if China's
art-loving billionaires, all connected deeply to the Communist Party and in some
cases to the Chinese military, are Hunter's benefactors? Are we really supposed
to believe that the anonymity of the buyers will remain a tight secret, and that
Chinese government-connected buyers will not somehow let the Bidens know they
are Hunter's newest and biggest fans?
They have done it before, as we have demonstrated.
Even if the key figure of this ridiculously obvious ploy for cash payments were
not the son of the U.S. president, this story shines the spotlight on the other
problem with international art sales – its exemption from the kinds of
disclosure laws and money-laundering preventatives that financial institutions
such as banks must follow. Money-laundering in the art market is nothing new. A
Senate Homeland Security and Government Oversight committee report last year
identified the art market as the "largest legal, unregulated market in the
United States" and a significant weakness in the nation's sanctions and
anti-money laundering regimes. Simply put, art transactions are not covered
under what's known as the Bank Secrecy Act, which require financial institutions
to maintain anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing controls. The
large auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's do this voluntarily, but
smaller, private sellers are under no obligation to do so.
Private art sales, which accounted for 58% of the U.S. art market by value in
2019, are unregulated. One private dealer with 30 years of experience in the art
market explained to the committee that she relied on the advice of lawyers, an
awareness of potential "red flags" and her "gut" to self-regulate.
Our investigation uncovered a text message from Hunter Biden to his daughter, in
which he complained about paying the bills for the rest of the Biden family. We
know, for example, Hunter's businesses were paying contractors at Joe Biden's
Delaware home and also paying $300 per month phone bills for private phones used
by the Vice President. Is there any reason to doubt that the proceeds from
Hunter's artistic payday will somehow once again find their way into the Biden
family estate?
Why is this not being scrutinized? The ranking member of the House Oversight
Committee, Rep. James Comer, (R-KY), has sent letters to Bergès demanding the
complete documentation of transactions involving Hunter's art sales. Comer is
unlikely to get it: only the Democrat majority on the committee can authorize
subpoenas to compel those records. As the Wall Street Journal noted in a recent
editorial, the committee's chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), seems
uninterested in doing so. Why are they failing to scrutinize what is so
obviously a back-door scheme to funnel money to the president's son from foreign
sources? Every American who cares about transparency in government should be
outraged.
*Peter Schweizer, President of the Governmental Accountability Institute, is a
Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of the best-selling
books Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires and Clinton Cash, among others.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
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Question: "What does it mean that Jesus saves?"
GotQuestions.org/October 01/2021
Answer: Jesus saves is a popular slogan on bumper stickers, signs at athletic
events, and even banners being pulled across the sky by small airplanes. Sadly,
few who see the phrase Jesus saves truly understand what it means. Those two
words pack a tremendous amount of power and truth.
Jesus saves, but who is Jesus?
Most people understand that Jesus was a man who lived in Israel about 2,000
years ago. Virtually every religion in the world views Jesus as a good teacher
and/or a prophet. And while Jesus was truly a good teacher and a prophet, those
job descriptions do not capture who Jesus truly is, nor do they explain how or
why Jesus saves. Jesus is God in human form (John 1:1, 14). He came to Earth as
a true human being (1 John 4:2) in the person of Jesus Christ in order to save
us. That brings up the next question: why do we need to be saved?
Jesus saves, but why do we need to be saved?
The Bible declares that every human being who has ever lived has sinned
(Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23). To sin is to do anything in thought, word, or
deed that contradicts God’s perfect and holy character. Because of our sin, we
are separated from God and deserve judgment from God (John 3:18, 36). God is
perfectly just, so He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Since God is the
infinite and eternal Creator, all sin is ultimately against Him (Psalm 51:4),
and only an infinite and eternal punishment is sufficient. Eternal
death—separation from God—is the only just punishment for sin. That is why we
need to be saved.
Jesus saves, but how does He save?
Because we have sinned against an infinite God, either a finite person (each one
of us) must pay for our sins for an infinite amount of time, or an infinite
Person (Jesus) must pay for our sins one time. There is no other option. Jesus
saves us by dying in our place. Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself on our behalf,
paying the infinite and eternal penalty only He could pay (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1
John 2:2). Jesus took the punishment that we deserve in order to save us from an
eternal destiny separated from God. Because of His great love for us, Jesus laid
down His life (John 15:13), paying the penalty that we had earned, but could not
pay. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, demonstrating that His death
was indeed sufficient to pay for our sins and that His life conquers death on
our behalf (1 Corinthians 15).
Jesus saves, but whom does He save?
Jesus saves all who will receive His gift of salvation by faith. Jesus saves all
those who cease trying to save themselves and fully trust in His sacrifice alone
as the payment for sin (John 3:16; Acts 16:31). Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient
to pay for the sins of all humanity, but His gift of salvation is only received
through faith (John 1:12). We must trust Him.
If you now understand what it means that Jesus saves, and you want to trust in
Him as your personal Savior, you can, as an act of faith, communicate the
following to God: “God, I know that I am a sinner, and I know that because of my
sin I deserve to be eternally separated from you. Even though I do not deserve
it, thank you for loving me and providing the sacrifice for my sins through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus died for my sins,
and I trust in Him alone to save me. From this point forward, help me to live my
life for you instead of for sin. Help me to live the rest of my life in
gratitude for the wonderful salvation you have provided. Thank you, Jesus, for
saving me!”
Have you made a decision for Christ because of what you have read here? If so,
please click on the “I have accepted Christ today” button below.
A Pro-Israel Summit in Erbil Breaks New Ground
Dennis Ross/Foreign Policy/October 01/2021
At great personal risk, Iraqi civil society leaders gather to demand entry into
the Abraham Accords.
On Sept. 24, a remarkable event took place in Iraq. In the northern city of
Erbil, 312 Iraqis gathered—predominantly Sunnis but also Shiites, from cities
and towns across the country—to issue a demand for their country to enter into
relations with Israel and its people via the Abraham Accords, and they did this
while risking the wrath of Iran and its military proxies.
The participants were religious leaders, youth protesters, and college
professors. One of the leaders of the conference was Sunni Sheikh Wisam al-Hardan.
His Sahwa (Awakening) movement is made up of Sunni tribesmen who, with the
backing of U.S. forces, faced down the Islamic States and al Qaeda on the
battlefield. It was this history to which the sheikh referred when he said at
the conference, “We have demonstrated over the years of blood and tears that we
oppose extremists of all varieties, whether Sunni ‘jihadists’ or Iran-backed
Shiite militias.”
“We have also demonstrated our patriotism,” Hardan continued. “We sacrificed
lives for the sake of a unified Iraq and our shared aspiration to realize a
federal system of government as stipulated in our nation’s constitution.” He now
seeks to promote an Iraq that builds coexistence domestically and regionally.
For those at the conference, that requires reaching out to Israelis whose
families originally came from Iraq.
On the eve of World War II, Jews made up about one-third of Baghdad’s population
and were leaders in science, finance, and culture. In reconnecting with the Jews
who were forced to leave Iraq at the time of Israel’s founding, Hardan, Maj.
Gen. Amer al-Juburi (a prominent member of the Shiite wing of the Juburi clan),
the culture official Sahar Karim al-Tai, and the other participants proclaimed
their hope, as Tai said in her speech, of “laying the cornerstone for the future
of a new Iraq—one where people of all sects, faiths, and creeds will enjoy the
blessings of justice and equality.” They see peace and the Abraham Accords—the
declared policy of the Biden administration in the United States—as creating a
pathway for the future they want to build.
Conference participants are now being subjected to blowback, ranging from
suspension of Hardan from the Awakening movement to more direct threats from
Iranian-backed Shiite militias. Those militias are calling for harsh actions
against “Zionist-American dens” and the “treasonous” participants in Erbil.
Politicians not wanting to be on the wrong side of the Iranians are supporting
arrests. The Iranians and their proxies are producing coerced retractions in
which some of the participants are forced to admit their supposed mistakes.
As important as it was for the conferencegoers to make a statement about peace
with Israel, they were also pushing forward the cause of freedom of expression
for all Iraqis. They accept that others may disagree with them, but if Iraq is
to progress, diverse opinions must be allowed to be expressed. The calls for
arresting the participants are a chilling reminder of the limits of expression
in Iraq—again, a sign of the leverage Iran continues to exert, but also an
indication that Iran fears the message of the Erbil conference. Nothing could be
more threatening to everything that Iran seeks in Iraq and the region than the
expansion of peace, especially if it is coming from the ground-up.
The conferencegoers are now seeking to create follow-on working groups with
civil society groups of Israelis, starting with the Peres Center for Peace and
Innovation, as well as journalists and academics. I have worked for decades to
promote Arab-Israeli peace, including as a U.S. Middle East envoy, and know that
while governments can help end conflicts and legitimize peacemaking, it is
people who make peace. Leaders can call for reconciliation, but its realization
can only come from the ground up and not the top down.
So how did this unprecedented civil society-driven event come to take place? The
organizer of the event on the ground is a small American nongovernmental
organization, the Center for Peace Communications, led by its founder and
president, Joseph Braude, with a mission of fostering people-to-people ties
between Arabs and Israelis. (Full disclosure: I serve as the chair of the board
of this small nonprofit.) Braude’s family originally came from Iraq, and his
great-great grandfather was the chief rabbi of Baghdad. Like so many of the
Jewish community in Baghdad, in 1950 his grandparents lost all of their property
and assets, had their Iraqi citizenship revoked and had their documents stamped:
“Forbidden to come back to Iraq.” They made their way to Israel, where some
members of the family stayed and others, including their grandson Joseph, moved
to the United States.
The Center for Peace Communications’ focus is on promoting connections between
peoples and cultures in the Middle East, not governments. The Erbil conference
grew out of what Braude likes to call “expeditionary diplomacy.” The Center for
Peace Communications’ representative in Iraq facilitated a broad campaign of
public outreach, including with members of the Awakening movement and the Juburi
clan, on behalf of the effort. Braude, Hardan, and tribal elders talked through
general principles and the idea of holding a gathering to act on those
principles. They worked together to produce a document to be issued at the
conference. Hardan and his counterparts in a total of six governorates—Baghdad,
Ninevah, Babil, Salahuddin, and Diyala, in addition to his governorate of Anbar—joined
in developing and participating in the conference, and conceptualizing follow-on
meetings with Israelis. (Multiple tribes among them, notably the Juburis, have
both Sunni and Shiite wings.) This tribal base was in turn joined by movers of
the urban youth protest movements of 2019-2021 (the so-called October
Revolution) and intellectuals.
All those who participated in the conference clearly have a vision for the
future. It very much reflects what they heard at the conference from the late
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’s son Chemi Peres, the chair of the Peres
Center for Peace and Innovation. By video, he addressed the gathering and spoke
about the joint projects they could launch to make life better for everyone in
the Middle East. The conference participants know there are now two different
pathways for the region. One is embodied in the Abraham Accords and offers
development; digitally based economies; scientific advancement; food, water and
health security; and a future where lives are bettered and people live securely
in peace. Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates are examples of
this path. The other pathway offers continued conflict. It is wedded not to
progress but to “resistance,” ensuring failed and failing states where, as in
Lebanon, Libya, and Yemen, the fundamental needs of people are sacrificed for
the sake of those who hold power and use a rejectionist ideology to preserve it.
This is a pathway that perpetuates the past and ensures a future only of
conflict, despair, and hopelessness.
The participants of the Erbil conference have chosen the first path. Yes, they
will face threats from Iran and the Shiite militias. They don’t expect others to
fight for them, but they count on America’s support, and they are surely
deserving of it.
If America’s interventions in the Middle East teach anything, it is that
Americans cannot impose their values, remake societies, or produce peace from
the outside. But the United States does have a responsibility to support
practically and materially those who will fight for themselves and embody the
very values Americans believe in.
In marking the anniversary of the Abraham Accords earlier this month, U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared: “We want to widen the circle of
peaceful diplomacy, because it’s in the interests of countries across the region
… for Israel to be treated like any other country.” The Erbil conferencegoers
are acting on the secretary’s words, and the United States has a stake in their
survival and success.
*Dennis Ross is a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy and teaches at Georgetown University. He served in senior national
security positions in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama
administrations, including as Clinton’s Middle East envoy. Twitter: @AmbDennisRoss
US Should Sanction The New Head And Businesses Of Iran’s Martyrs Foundation
Saeed Ghasseminejad/Iran International/October 01/2021
Hashemi was appointed earlier this month by President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi),
putting him for the first time in charge of a financial powerhouse, with
millions under its care. Raisi has also handed him a potential political base
with a chance to develop closer ties across the military, including the IRGC’s
extraterritorial, dark-arts Quds (Qods) Force.
Before serving as the head of the martyrs foundation, Ghazizadeh was the deputy
speaker of the Majles, the Islamic Republic’s parliament. He is a former member
of the Paidary Front, an ultra-hardline political organization founded by
disciples and supporters of Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a militant cleric even
by the Islamic Republic’s standards. Ghazizadeh also ran in Iran’s 2021
presidential elections and came in fourth. He comes from a prominent insider
family: a brother and a cousin serve in the Majles and another cousin is a
former health minister.
In 1980 then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini established the foundation to aid
the families of those who had fallen in the revolution. As the Iran-Iraq war
began, the foundation added the families of war dead to its portfolio. In 2004
providing service to veterans was added to its responsibilities. Like many other
institutions in the Islamic Republic, the foundation’s leadership consists of
two primary officials: the supreme leader’s representative and the head of the
foundation. Iran’s president appoints the head in consultation with the supreme
leader, effectively intertwining the two roles.
Since martyrdom is the cornerstone of Shiism, martyrs, veterans, and their
families are of immense political importance. The foundation has been the
vehicle for keeping the families of martyrs aligned politically: it rewards
regime-supporters with financial benefits and employment and education
opportunities. The refractory lose these benefits and more.
While Iran’s national budget provides it with funding, the foundation also has a
vast business empire and operates abroad. It thus has prodigious financial
resources to advance its agenda. One of the key business entities it controls is
Kowsar Economic Organization, which owns 43 firms, some of which are holdings or
investing companies, with extensive interests in a wide range of industries. The
Shahed Investment Company is another major economic arm of the organization that
is publicly traded and heavily involved in the real estate and construction
sectors. The foundation also owns Dey Bank, which the United States sanctioned
in 2018. These three entities closely work together and have intertwined
ownership structures and operations.
The foundation extends services to martyrs and veterans from other countries,
too. Last year, the foundation’s chief announced that it covers members of the
Fatemiyoun brigades, the Shiite Afghan brigade of the Quds Force, which has been
fighting alongside the IRGC in Syria. The Lebanese Hezbollah has its own martyrs
foundation, founded in 1982, which is, according to the U.S. Treasury, a branch
of Iran’s martyrs foundation. The Iranian foundation and its officials regularly
meet with representatives of Hezbollah and provide technical and financial
support. Similarly, in Yemen, the Iranian foundation has created a branch to
help the Shiite Houthis, according to some reports.
The Iranian organization also supports families of Palestinian terrorists
through the Palestinian Martyrs Foundation, founded in 1993 as a branch of the
Lebanese foundation. The Iranian mothership’s relations with its foreign proxies
are quite similar to the Quds Force’s relationship with its foreign proxies —
that is, the foundation provides financial, training, and technical support to
loyal local elements, who then run the day-to-day operations of the affiliated
organizations.
The United States first sanctioned the Iranian foundation and its Lebanese
branch in 2007. Over the years, this organization and its front companies
managed to raise funds in the United States and transfer it to Hezbollah. In
2020 Treasury designated a network of firms and individuals related to the
Lebanese foundation. However, Washington has not sanctioned the Iranian Martyrs
Foundation’s business network even though Tehran uses it to finance terrorism by
guaranteeing lifelong financial support for jihadists, terrorists, and their
families.
That omission warrants correction: Washington should sanction Ghazizadeh and the
rest of the foundation’s leadership. The Kowsar Economic Organization, Shahed
Company, and their subsidiaries and controlled firms should also not escape
punishment.
*Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior advisor on Iran and financial economics at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow Saeed on Twitter @SGhasseminejad.
FDD is a Washington, DC-based, non-partisan research institute focusing on
national security and foreign policy.
Tehran views the rise of the Taliban with both glee and suspicion
Alireza Nader/Navid Mohebbi/Washington Examiner/October 01/2021
The regime in Iran initially welcomed the triumph of the Taliban over the
central government in Kabul, celebrating the humiliation of the U.S., their
common foe. While Shiite Iran and the Sunni Taliban hold differing religious
ideologies, the two have built strong relations since the Taliban’s initial
defeat by U.S. forces in 2001. Anti-Americanism explains this partnership: Both
seek to stymie U.S. influence in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim
world.
Traditional tensions between the two could, of course, soon reemerge, especially
if the Taliban continue to persecute the Persian-speaking Tajiks and the Hazara
, the Afghan Shiite minority; interfere with Iran’s access to precious water
resources; or allow Afghanistan to become a zone of influence for Pakistan,
Turkey, or Qatar, the Islamic Republic’s regional rivals.
Historically, Tehran has had, owing to shifting circumstances, antagonistic and
friendly relations with the Taliban. Before the group’s defeat by the U.S. in
2001, the two almost went to war over the Taliban’s killing of Iranian diplomats
in 1998 and its brutal treatment of the Hazara.
The Islamic Republic was certainly happy about the Taliban’s fall in 2001, but
Tehran’s relationship with the subsequent U.S.-supported Afghan governments was
troubled. Kabul’s close cooperation with the West and Tehran’s hostility toward
Europe and America meant that Iran and Afghanistan could never develop much
trust.
To be sure, Tehran professed friendship but built its own separate network of
religious and political influence in Afghanistan, armed and funded Taliban
insurgents, and sought to undermine the Afghan government’s control of the
Helmand River, which Tehran views as a growing strategic interest given its own
severe water shortages. Water shortages have led to widespread protests in Iran
and will continue to be a major cause of instability for the clerical regime.
Therefore, securing water from the Helmand River remains a major priority for
the Islamic Republic — and Tehran is willing to play hardball to ensure it.
Afghan authorities have accused Iran of bribing Afghan officials to delay the
construction of the Helmand River’s Kamal Khan dam, which would impede the flow
of water to Iran. A Taliban commander in 2011 claimed that Iran offered him
$50,000 to blow up the dam. Many Afghans believe that the Taliban’s repeated
attacks on the dam in recent years, resulting in the deaths of security
personnel, have been at the order of the regime in Iran.
The Taliban’s renewed persecution of the Tajiks and the Hazara Afghan minority
is likely to arouse Tehran’s ire more than anything else, especially if it
happens en masse. Last month, Amnesty International reported that the Taliban
killed nine ethnic Hazara men in July after it seized control of Afghanistan’s
Ghazni province.
Tehran also views Pakistan, Qatar, and Turkey as rivals and will be alarmed by
the Taliban’s embrace of them. Pakistan has armed and funded the Taliban and
advised it on how it could take power, while Qatar and Turkey have sustained the
Taliban’s means of communication with the outside world, including by keeping
Kabul’s airport open.
To pressure the Taliban to respect its interests, Tehran may provide funding and
arms to the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, led by Ahmad Massoud, who
represents many Tajiks fighting against the Taliban in the Panjshir valley —
assuming Massoud can survive long enough to receive Iranian aid. Massoud is the
son of the legendary anti-Taliban resistance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who at
times received support from the clerical regime.
Tehran can also pressure the Taliban and counter its regional influence through
the Fatemiyoun Brigades, a proxy militia consisting of thousands of Afghan
Shiite militiamen trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who were
battle-tested in Syria and Iraq. Iran could try to send them to Afghanistan to
fight against the Taliban.
The U.S. defeat in Afghanistan at least for now is a boost for Iran’s theocrats.
But the Taliban may prove to be an unstable partner. If the two cannot bury the
hatchet, they may discover that two militant Islamic regimes may have sufficient
theological, cultural, and geopolitical differences to become ardent foes.
*Alireza Nader (@AlirezaNader) is a senior fellow at
the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Navid Mohebbi (@navidmohebbi) is a
policy fellow at the National Union for Democracy in Iran. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
The walls of the EU eastern flank
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/October 01/2021
An x-ray of the European Union’s eastern borders and the Balkan migration
policies tell a grim story of erected walls and populism. The EU needs to get
more involved in solving the Lebanese and Syrian crises to have some partners in
managing migration, in the absence of internal consensus.
I was on my way to our office in Beirut about a week and a half ago when, at a
street corner, I overheard a conversation between two young men and their plan
to leave Lebanon as soon as possible because “there is not future here”.
They were talking about maybe Belarus, maybe Greece. But then they both agreed
that the Balkan route, through Serbia to Romania and then Hungary would be their
best bet.
The debate on migration is quite incendiary if one looks at the European
Commission and its troubles in getting southern Europeans like Italy and Greece
to agree on a common asylum and immigration policy. But few people look at the
policies of the eastern countries of the European bloc, where people fleeing
disasters are also arriving in scores. The Balkan
countries, Romania and Bulgaria have been relatively quiet on the topic, hoping
probably that the much more vocal Poland and Brussels’ issues with Belarus would
steal the spotlight and attract the bulk of “migrants”.
But from the Balkans to Poland, all the eastern flank has securitized the
situation: people are still dehumanized, arrested, sent to court for illegally
crossing the border and eventually deported to the country they arrived from
(not the country of origin). For the eastern states it is all a security issue,
rather than a human rights issue and empathy for the strife in Syria or
Afghanistan, or anywhere else for that matter, is close to null.
Poland’s “no”
Poland’s parliament extended yesterday a state of emergency along the border
with Belarus for another 60 days, despite people dying at the border and heavy
criticism from human rights organizations and the European Union itself. The
vote was aired on live television and a majority of the country’s legislative
body, dominated by conservatives, voted in favor of the extension. Since July,
Poland has sent thousands of troops to the border, built a razor-wire fence, and
implemented a state of emergency along the border area that bans journalists and
charity workers. Five migrants have died along the European Union’s eastern
border with Belarus in the past two months. Warsaw’s
excuse for barricading itself is that it feels that Belarus has declared war on
the EU in retaliation for the sanctions imposed after the brutal crackdown on
the opposition. The weapon used by Minsk against the EU would be the “hoards” of
Afghans seeking refuge in Europe, and Poland is caught in the middle. Interior
Minister Mariusz Kaminski asked for an extension of the state of emergency,
claiming the asylum seekers had links with “radical groups or criminals.” The
core of the problem is, however, that Brussels wants to curb funding for Poland
due to its breaches of rule of law in recent years, and migration is the
conservatives’ negotiation leverage. “The Polish border is sealed. BLR
(Belarusian) authorities told you lies. Go back to Minsk!”But people are dying
in the process.
At the beginning of September, Amnesty International reported that 32 Afghans
including four women, 27 men and a 15-year-old girl, had been held at the border
between Belarus and Poland without adequate food and clean water for over three
weeks, after being pushed back from Poland. On September 20, Amnesty released a
digital investigation proving that the Polish border control pushed the asylum
seekers back into Belarus.
The political bickering has left hundreds, if not thousands, of people hiding in
forests along the border, and humanitarian workers carrying backpacks of food
shouting through the woods in search for people who need help, both in getting
food after their journey and with filing asylum paperwork.
But the government in Warsaw seems relentless. Tens of thousands of text
messages were sent to foreign mobile phones along the country’s border with
Belarus in a bid to target migrants and dissuade them from crossing.
“The Polish border is sealed. BLR (Belarusian) authorities told you lies. Go
back to Minsk!,” read the English-language messages. The interior ministry said
that last Tuesday alone it had sent nearly 31,000 messages to phones along the
border. Bulgarian border police personal patrol next to a barbed wire wall fence
erected on the Bulgaria-Turkey border near the town of Lesovo on February
The Balkan “poor people’s” route
In the Balkans, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has raised new fears that
the 2015 migration crisis, when 1 million people fleeing war and poverty in the
Middle East, especially Syria, arrived in the European Union (a bloc with a
total population of about 440 million people). The Balkan route has been seen
ever since as the least dangerous for asylum seekers, as crossing borders on
land is less of a risk than taking a trip on the sea from Turkey to Greece or
from Syria/Lebanon to Cyprus. Bulgaria announced on August 26 that it will
bolster its border with Greece and Turkey with between 400 and 700 soldiers amid
growing concern in Europe over an influx of migrants from Afghanistan.
Defense Minister Georgi Panayotov told the media that the troops would be
available to help police and gendarmes with “constructing barriers and
surveillance,” he added.
Although neighboring Greece and Turkey, both countries carrying the burden of
hosting refugees and asylum seekers from Syria, Bulgaria only granted asylum to
885 people in 2019. On the migration route, Bulgaria has been detaining people
in substandard camps and has been criticized over the treatment of refugees.
Scores of people try to cross the border between Romania and Hungary every day,
hidden in trucks. Some are also caught trying to swim over the Danube from
Serbia, others are captured simply trying to take a taxi to Hungary through a
side road.
It also built a fence worth of EUR 85 million at the border with Turkey.
The Western Balkan countries, meanwhile, much like Turkey, have used Europe’s
“migration crisis” and the Balkan route as leverage in their EU membership
negotiations. A membership that Brussels doesn’t think is going to happen, as
the bloc is mulling removing visa-free travel for their citizens.
A few weeks back, North Macedonia also warned that “migrants are coming” to the
Balkan route. Meanwhile, Serbia, which has been accused by the EU of simply
letting people pass through on their way to Western Europe, is reportedly
hosting thousands of refugees who dream of reaching Austria, Germany, Italy,
Spain and the Netherlands. Most of the time, their path takes them over the
Danube, to Romania.
The grey zone
If you ask Romanians about migration, they will respond with an anecdote that
has been circulating since 2015, when the first people tried to cross the
country to reach Central Europe. Two Afghan refugees detained by the border
police reportedly started crying when they found out that instead of Hungary,
they had crossed from Serbia to Romania. Noone wants to stay here, Romanians
say, half with relief, half with self-pity. There are no warning messages, nor
emergency situations declared when people arrive in Romania from Serbia or
Bulgaria.
But scores of people try to cross the border between Romania and Hungary every
day, hidden in trucks. Some are also caught trying to swim over the Danube from
Serbia, others are captured simply trying to take a taxi to Hungary through a
side road. On September 30, the Romanian Border police reported it detained six
Afghan asylum seekers while they were trying to cross the border into Hungary. A
day before, during a routine patrol, 10 Afghans aged between 15-28 and a
one-year-old baby were found after crossing to Romania with an inflatable boat
from Serbia. They didn’t want to stay in Romania, they wanted to reach a state
in Western Europe, the border police said. Usually, that country is Germany. Two
Afghan refugees detained by the border police reportedly started crying when
they found out that instead of Hungary, they had crossed from Serbia to Romania.
Noone wants to stay here, Romanians say, half with relief, half with self-pity.
On September 27, a Turkish lorry driver was detained after the Romanian and
Hungarian border police detected 14 people – two Syrians and 12 Turkish
citizens, including a 3-year-old – hidden in the cargo, among metal spare parts.
But these are the only the ones apprehended on a single border checkpoint
between Romania and Hungary, during just three days. What happens to people
caught in the act: they are investigated and often tried for illegal border
crossing. Some apply for asylum and make it through the process, others are
deported back to Turkey, most of the time, or pushed back to Serbia, depending
on where they embarked on the journey with the trafficker. Drivers or guides are
investigated and charged with human trafficking.
Trafficking networks have even tried to use a potential Black Sea route to
smuggle people into Romania and Bulgaria, and at least two of those overloaded
boats were intercepted in 2017-2018 by the Romanian or Bulgarian Coast Guard.
Some boats capsized in the Black Sea, killing scores. Nature put an end to that
route, as the Black Sea’s currents have proven too strong and dangerous.
No way out of it
With the eastern states building walls and fences, sending troops to the borders
and arresting and deporting migrants, with Central European states dominated by
right-wing unfriendly governments, and the EU failing to draft a coherent asylum
policy accepted by everyone, EU neighbors, including Lebanon, will continue to
be a buffer zone for people fleeing wars and totalitarian regimes for years to
come. The solution to that problem is not only in Brussels. It is also in
capitals that are seen as less powerful in the EU, where there is little
understanding, empathy and interest for humanitarian issues outside their
horizons. The only thing the EU seems to be able to do so far is to send
billions in humanitarian aid into Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, hoping the issue
would be solved someday. But that is also not the way. It’s also in eastern EU
countries where the idea of the Other needs to be normalized, and not only seen
through historical traumas left behind by the Ottoman empire. It is obvious that
the internal EU consensus on the issue is almost impossible, even beyond Italy’s
staunch opposition. The only thing the EU seems to be able to do so far is to
send billions in humanitarian aid into Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, hoping the
issue would be solved someday. But that is also not the way. Aid creates
dependence, not development. Brussels needs to step up its foreign policy, take
the Syrian file from the drawer, unblock what is blocked, and find political
solutions to the crises in the Middle East that are driving millions to flee
their countries. At the very least, the EU needs to make itself more visible at
the political level, and that doesn’t mean communicating better on Twitter.
It means concrete policies and no dithering. Rebuilding Lebanon as a state, a
functioning state, not a shack that tolerates corruption and armed groups, is
not only France’s responsibility, as a former colonial power. It’s the entire EU
bloc’s responsibility if they want to have reliable partners in managing
migration.
The walls quietly erected on the EU’s eastern flank are not going to hold for
too long, and we’re going to be back to 2015 with a human rights nightmare on
everyone’s hands, and no coherent asylum policies. If that is even a concern for
anyone, of course.
*Ana Maria Luca is the managing editor of @NOW_leb. She tweets @AnaMariaLuca79.